184 

TsPe 


PROMINENT    AMERICANS 


INTERESTED    IN    JAPAN 
AND 


PROMINENT     JAPANESE 

IN      AMERICA 


SUPPLEMENT  TO  THE  JANUARY 
NUMBER  OF 

"JAPAN     AND     AMERICA" 

i  903 


1 


PREFACE. 


THE  first  feeling  of  friendship  between  the  United  States  and  Japan 
began  with  the  visit  to  Japan  of  Commodore  Perry,  of  the  Ameri 
can  navy.  Ever  since  that  memorable  voyage  Japan  has  felt  that 
the  awakening  of  the  Far  East,  and  the  great  benefit  she  herself  has 
received  from  her  acceptance  of  Western  civilization,  were  due  to  the 
stimulus  and  inspiration  given  by  the  United  States.  In  the  half 
century  that  has  followed,  the  friendship  of  the  two  nations  has  been 
strengthened  by  means  of  a  rapidly  developing  commerce.  No  Ameri 
can  should  be  ignorant  of  the  fact  that  among  the  people  of  Japan 
there  is  a  sincere  and  deep-rooted  friendship  for  the  people  of  the 
United  States. 

"Japan  and  America"  was  founded  in  this  city  in  July,  1901,  and 
the  "  Japanese-American  Commercial  Weekly  "  in  December,  1900,  for 
the  purpose  of  helping  to  maintain  and  promote  friendly  and  commercial 
relations  between  America  and  Japan.  They  are  endeavoring  to  draw 
the  peoples  of  the  two  countries  closer  together  in  all  their  relations 
of  life — in  trade,  in  art,  in  literature — and  in  sympathy  with  each  other 
in  the  broad  purpose,  shared  by  both  in  common,  of  world-civilization. 
Both  nations,  it  should  be  remembered,  are  engaged  upon  the  solution 
of  the  same  grave  and  important  problem — the  civilization  and  uplifting 
of  inferior  races.  That  the  efforts  of  this  periodical  have  been  widely 
appreciated  is  shown  by  the  fact  that  "  Japan  and  America  "  and  the 
"  Japanese-American  Commercial  Weekly  "  now  have  a  large  and  in 
creasing  circulation  in  the  United  States  and  in  Japan. 

We  here  present  portraits  and  biographical  sketches  of  prominent 
Americans  who  are  interested  in  Japan,  and  of  Japanese  who  are  inter 
ested  in  America.  The  Americans  who  are  most  interested  in  Japan 
are  well  known  to  the  older  people  in  Japan,  but  not  to  the  younger 
generation.  It  is  our  purpose  to  make  known  to  this  class  such  of 
the  successful  Americans  as  they  ought  to  know.  In  like  manner,  the 
sketches  tell  Americans  of  some  of  the  successful  men  of  Japan. 


690994 


A  MONG  the  Americans,  Mr.  E.  S.  Morse  and  the  Rev.  Clay  Mac- 
^^  Cauley,  and  many  others ;  among  the  Japanese,  Messrs.  Yasukata 
Murai,  Rioichiro  Arai,  Sadatsuji  Uchida,  Zenjuro  Horikoshi,  Kanai 
Tozawa  and  Kisaburo  Uyeno  are  not  here,  owing  to  the  short  time  at 
our  disposal,  but  we  are  expecting  in  the  near  future  to  publish  another 
edition,  which  will  contain  some  names  that  could  not  be  inserted  in  this 
collection. 

Any  errors  found  in  these  sketches  will  be  corrected  in  the  next 
edition. 


CONTENTS. 

PAGE. 

Dr.  James  C.  Hepburn 7 

The  Rev.  Dr.  William  Elliot  Griffis. 9 

Mr.   Durham   White   Stevens 13 

Rev.  Merriman  Colbert  Harris 17 

General  Steward  Lyndon  Woodford     19 

Prof.  David  Starr  Jordan .  t* 25 

Mr.  James  Rolland  Morse 29 

Prof.  George  Trumbull  Ladd 31 

Mr.  Franklin  Allen 33 

Hon.  Alfred  J.  Ostheimer 35 

Mr.  Joseph  Marshall  Wade 37 

Mr.  Isaac  Stiebel 43 

Mr.   Carl  Scheur 45 

Mr.  James  J.  Hill 46 

Mr.  Silas  D.  Webb , 50 

Mr.  John   Foord 51 

Mr.  Basil  H.  Betts 53 

Mr.  John  T.  Hamilton 57 

Hon.   Minister   Kogoro   Takahira 65 

Dr.  Jokichi  Takamine 69 

Mr.  Gojuro  Nagasaki 75 

Mr.  Kenzo  Iwahara 79 

Count  Hirokichi  Mutsu 81 

Mr.  Takenosuke  Furuya 83 

Mr.  Shaw  T.  Nishimura 85 

Mr.   Tomotsune   Mitsutany 87 

Mr.  Daijiro  Ushikubo 89 

Mr.  Bunkio  Matsuki 91 

Mr.  Mumajiro  Yamada '..-.  .> .  ^ ....... *. 93 

Mr.  Jiro  Sakabe ..'....'.'.. 95 

Hinode    Club V.  .  .  ,>,  .  ;  ]  .'- .  i  ; ;'.-',.]. '.;. 97 


DR.    JAMKS    C.    HKPBUKN. 


PROMINENT    AMERICANS     INTERESTED    IN    JAPAN.          7 

DR.  JAMES  C.  HEPBURN. 

There  is  not  a  more  distinguished  name  in  connection  with  the 
exploitation  of  Japan  and  Japanese  literature  than  that  of  Dr.  Hepburn. 
His  monumental  work,  the  Japanese-English  dictionary,  is  a  masterpiece 
of  scholarship  in  the  class  with  the  great  lexicons  of  Johnson,  Grimm 
and  Webster,  though  requiring  far  greater  industry,  patience  and  learning 
than  any  of  these.  It  is  a  boon  and  a  necessity  to  every  student  of 
Japanese. 

James  C.  Hepburn,  born  in  Milton,  Pa.,  in  1815,  was  graduated  from 
Princeton  College  in  1832,  and  from  the  Medical  Department  of  the 
University  of  Pennsylvania  in  1836.  Went  as  a  missionary  physician  to 
China  in  1840.  After  residing  in  Singapore  two  years  during  the  war 
between  England  and  China,  went  up  to  China  and  resided  about  three 
years  in  Amoy,  where  he  opened  a  hospital  and  dispensary  in  conjunction 
with  Dr.  W.  H.  dimming,  where  he  also  compiled  a  complete  vocabulary 
of  Fokeen  colloquial  dialect ;  but  his  own  health,  as  well  as  that  of  his 
wife  breaking  down,  he  returned  to  the  United  States.  He  commenced 
the  practice  of  medicine  in  New  York  City,  where  he  resided  some 
thirteen  years. 

When  Japan  was  opened  to  foreign  residence  and  trade,  he  resigned 
his  work  in  New  York  and  sailed  for  Japan  in  April,  1859,  arriving  in 
Kanagawa  in  October  of  the  same  year.  He  resided  in  Kanagawa, 
studying  the  language,  until  the  winter  of  1862,  when  he  removed  to 
Yokohama  and  opened  a  dispensary  for  the  gratuitous  treatment  of  the 
sick,  and  teaching  the  Christian  religion.  He  also  constructed  a 
grammar  of  the  Japanese  language  and  compiled  a  Japanese  and  English 
dictionary,  which  he  published  in  1867  in  Shanghai,  there  being  no 
facilities  for  doing  it  in  Japan.  This  dictionary,  the  first  and  only  one 
of  the  kind,  being  gradually  improved  and  enlarged,  passed  through  three 
editions.  Dr.  Hepburn  also  assisted  materially  in  the  translation  of  the 
Holy  Scriptures  into  the  Japanese  language,  besides  publishing  the  first 
Christian  tract;  also  a  Bible  dictionary  in  that  language.  He  was  one 
of  the  founders  of  the  Christian  College,  known  as  the  Meiji  Gaku  In,  in 
Tokyo,  of  which  he  wras  the  first  president,  and  to  which  he  contributed 
largely  in  funds.  He  was  elected  a  member  of  the  Japan  Medical  Society 
of  Tokyo  and  added  largely  to  its  library,  and  was  one  of  the  first 
presidents  of  the  Asiatic  Society  of  Japan.  On  account  of  age  and 
increasing  physical  infirmity,  he  retired  from  his  work  in  Japan  and 
returned  to  the  United  States,  hoping  to  enjoy  a  few  years  of  quiet  rest. 


REV.    DR.    WILLIAM    ELLIOT    GRIFFIS. 


PROMINENT    AMERICANS     INTERESTED    IN     JAPAN. 


THE  REV.  DR.  WILLIAM  ELLIOT  GRIFFIS. 

The  Rev.  Dr.  William  Elliot  Griffis,  author  of  "  The  Mikado's 
Empire  "  and  of  other  books  almost  equally  famous,  was  born  in  the 
city  of  Philadelphia  in  1843.  His  taste  f°r  travel  and  adventure  was 
inherited  from  six  generations  of  Devonshire,  England,  seamen  and 
navigators.  His  father,  John  L.  Griffis,  for  many  years  was  a  sea 
captain  and  visited  almost  all  of  the  great  islands  of  the  Pacific  Ocean. 
Dr.  Griffis's  grandfather  was  also  a  lifelong  navigator.  Another  grand 
father  and  two  uncles  were  Friends,  but  during  the  Revolutionary  War 
became  "  Free  Quakers,"  and  were  officers  in  the  Continental  army. 
It  is  a  matter  of  historical  interest  to  note  here  that  the  wife  of  one 
of  the  soldiers  in  Col.  Jehu  Eyre's  regiment  made  the  first  American 
flag.  Dr.  Griffis's  father  was  a  coal  merchant  in  Philadelphia  during 
the  later  portion  of  his  life.  After  taking  a  course  in  the  public  schools 
Dr.  Griffis  entered  the  Philadelphia  High  School.  When  twenty-two 
he  became  a  student  at  Rutger's  College,  and  was  graduated  in  the 
class  of  1869  with  the  degree  of  A.  B.  Later  he  was  made  an  A.  M. 
by  his  alma  mater,  and  received  the  degree  of  D.  D.  from  Union 
College,  and  Rutgers  made  him  an  L.  H.  D.  in  1899. 

During  his  college  life  he  received  five  prizes  in  oratory,  English 
composition  and  science.  In  1869  he  visited  Europe  with  the  intention 
of  taking  a  course  in  theology  in  the  German  universities,  but  hs  love 
for  travel  led  him  to  decide  that  the  best  use  he  could  make  of  his 
time  was  to  see  as  much  of  the  Old  World  as  extensively  as  possible, 
which  he  did.  Upon  his  return  he  took  a  course  in  the  Theological 
Seminary  of  the  Reformed  Dutch  Church  at  New  Brunswick. 

About  that  time — 1867 — Japanese  students  were  flocking  to  this 
country,  and  Dr.  Griffis  became  much  interested  in  their  condition  and 
formed  many  personal  acquaintances  with  these  young  men.-  He  wrote 
an  article  about  that  time  in  the  New  York  "  Independent,"  which 
attracted  considerable  attention.  In  1870  there  came  an  application 
from  Japan  for  young  men  to  teach  physical  science  in  that  country, 
and  one  of  the  most  progressive  of  the  300  feudal  rulers  of  that  country, 
Matsudaira  Echizen  no  Kami,  invited  him,  during  that  year,  to  enter 
upon  the  work.  He  accepted  the  call,  and  organized  a  school  on  the 
American  model  at  Fukui,  and  for  a  year  lived  alone  in  that  strange 


io        PROMINENT    AMERICANS     INTERESTED    IN     JAPAN. 

country,  witnessing  sights  never  before  seen  by  an  American.  At  that 
time  .these  300  feudal  barons  had  their  own  territory,  and  Dr.  Griffis 
saw  all  sides  of  life  between  the  extremes  of  the  ruler  and  the  outcast. 
He  is  now  the  only  man  of  Caucasian  race  living  who  lived  at  a 
Daimyo's  court  and  saw  the  old  feudal  system  in  operation.  He  helped 
to  organize  the  schools  in  the  province  of  Echizen,  in  which  is  now 
the  terminus  of  the  cross-island  railroad  in  that  county.  Many  of 
his  students  have  since  become  prominent  officers  in  the  Japanese 
Government,  and  his  personal  relations  with  the  people  were  most 
pleasant.  He  journeyed  frequently  into  the  regions  of  central  and 
northern  Japan  and  inspected  their  mines,  gun  factories,  oil  wells,  silk- 
reeling  apparatus,  etc.  About  that  time  the  feudal  system  of  300 
barons  was  broken  up  and  everything  was  centralized  under  the 
Mikado  at  Tokyo,  the  capital.  His  baron  was  summoned  away  and 
most  of  his  students  left  the  capital. 

Having  proposed  to  the  Minister  of  Education,  Mr.  Oki  Takato, 
in  Tokyo,  that  a  polytechnic  school  be  established,  Dr.  Griffis  was 
invited  to  undertake  the  work,  and  the  plan  was  later  carried  out. 
While  waiting  for  its  perfection  he  was  invited  to  the  chair  of  physical 
sciences  in  the  Imperial  University,  where  he  remained  three  years. 
Here  he  also  saw  much  of  Japanese  life,  and  had  an  audience  with  the 
Emperor  and  became  acquainted  with  most  of  the  members  of  the 
Cabinet — Okubo,  Kido,  Okuma,  and  others — who  led  the  great  national 
movement  which  swung  Japan  from  its  ancient  civilization  into  modern 
progress.  For  two  years  his  oldest  sister  was  with  him,  so  that  at 
their  household  the  daughters  as  well  as  the  sons  of  the  prominent 
Japanese  were  entertained.  Regarded  as  a  learned  man  and  made  a 
member  of  their  societies,  he  was  able  to  come  into  contact  with  all 
classes  of  people,  and  traveled  extensively  in  different  portions  of  the 
country.  His  library  at  Ithaca  contains  many  rare  books  published 
in  the  Japanese  language,  and  he  has  probably  the  finest  collection  of 
general  works  upon  Japan  in  the  United  States. 

He  returned  to  America  in  1874,  and  for  five  years  continued  the 
study  of  the  language  and  literature  of  that  country.  The  first  two 
years  of  that  period  were  spent  in  writing  and  lecturing  throughout 
the  United  States.  The  first  edition  of  "  The  Mikado's  Empire " 
came  out  in  August,  1876.  From  this  time  until  the  Shimonoseki 
indemnity  was  returned  to  Japan  copies  of  the  chapter  on  "The 


PROMINENT    AMERICANS     INTERESTED    IN     JAPAN.         n 

Shimonoseki  Affair "  in  the  United  States  were  sent  to  members  of 
Congress,  and  Mr.  Griffis  agitated  the  subject  in  his  lectures  for  years. 

He  resumed  his  theological  studies,  and  completed  a  course  in  the 
Union  Theological  Seminary,  of  New  York  City,  where  he  was  under 
the  instruction  of  Drs.  Schaff,  Briggs,  Adams,  Hitchcock  and  other 
noted  religious  leaders.  His  first  call  was  to  the  Reformed  Protestant 
Dutch  Church  of  Schenectady,  N.  Y.  The  2OOth  anniversary  of  the 
church  was  celebrated  while  he  was  pastor,  and,  with  its  loan  exhi 
bition  of  historical  relics  and  its  publication  of  a  memorial,  was  a  great 
affair. 

Doctor,  or,  as  he  was  then  called,  "  Domine,"  Griffis  made  good 
use  of  the  rare  books  and  records  in  the  historical  archives  of  Albany, 
and  made  extensive  researches  concerning  Holland  and  the  Dutch. 
During  one  year  he  filled  the  chair  of  mental  science  in  Union  College. 
During  this  period  he  was  united  in  marriage  to  a  daughter  of  Prof. 
Irving  Stanton,  of  Union  College.  After  a  stay  of  nine  years  he  was 
called  to  the  pastorate  of  the  First  Schamut  Congregational  Church, 
on  Tremont  street,  Boston,  where  he  remained  seven  years.  He  was 
a  frequent  visitor  to  the  libraries  of  that  classic  town  and  met  many 
prominent  literary  people.  In  1891  Dr.  Griffis,  with  his  wife,  went 
to  London,  a  delegate  to  the  International  Congregational  Council. 
His  church  was  for  many  years  one  'of  the  leading  ones  in  the  denomi 
nation  in  Boston,  but  owing  to  the  marked  change  made  in  the 
population  by  the  lately  completed  electric  railways,  his  church  is 
now  a  mission  church.  After  a  stay  of  seven  years  he  resigned  to 
become  pastor  of  the  First  Congregational  Church  of  Christ  in  Ithaca, 
N.  Y.,  in  1893,  where  he  has  since  remained.  Upon  leaving  Boston 
he  was  presented  by  his  people  with  a  handsome  gold  watch  and  $2,500. 

The  proximity  of  Cornell  University  has  been  of  great  advantage 
to  him  in  pursuing  his  literary  studies,  but,  at  the  same  time,  he  has 
not  neglected  the  duties  of  a  pastor's  calling. 

He  has  been  in  Europe  six  times — in  1869,  1891,  1892,  1895,  1898 
and  1900.  By  special  invitation  he  was  present  at  the  coronation  of 
Queen  Wilhelmina  of  Holland.  This  honor  came  to  him  because  of 
his  prominence  as  an  investigator  and  writer  upon  Dutch  history.  He 
is  one  of  the  three  American  members  of  the  Netherlandish  Society 
of  Letters,  of  Leyden.  During  his  ministry  he  has  been  offered  the 
presidency  of  several  colleges,  but  his  church  labors  and  his  literary 


12        PROMINENT    AMERICANS     INTERESTED    IN     JAPAN. 

pursuits  have  made  a  response  to  such  calls  inadvisable  in  his  judgment. 
He  is  president  of  the  De  Witt  Historical  Society,  member  of  the 
American  Institute  of  Arts  and  Letters,  etc.,  etc.  He  takes  a  lively 
interest  in  the  present  American  movement  in  the  Far  East,  and  he 
is  one  of  the  best  posted  scholars  in  the  United  States  concerning  that 
portion  of  the  world. 

His  literary  productions  have  been  numerous,  and  cover  widely 
different  lines  of  thought.  Among  them  may  be  noted  "  Honda,  the 
Samurai,"  a  tale  of  Japan  of  to-day,  showing  its  customs,  also  referring 
to  its  legends  and  history,  the  whole  being  given  in  the  form  of  an 
interesting  romance ;  "  The  Lily  Among  Thorns,"  a  study  of  the  Song 
of  Solomon ;  "  Matthew  Calbraith  Perry,"  the  life  story  of  this  typical 
American  naval  officer ;  "  Corea,  the  Hermit  Nation  " ;  "  The  Mikado's 
Empire,"  which  is  now  in  its  ninth  edition ;  "  The  Japanese  Fairy 
World,"  containing  thirty-five  stories  from  the  wonderlore  of  Japan  ; 
'  Townsend  Harris,"  a  biography  of  the  first  American  envoy  in  Japan  ; 
"  Brave  Little  Holland  and  What  She  Taught  Us,"  "  Japan  in  History, 
Folklore  and  Art,"  "  Sir  William  Johnson  and  the  Six  Nations,"  "  The 
Pilgrims  in  Their  Three  Homes — England,  Holland  and  America." 
Several  of  these  works  are  regarded  as  standard  productions  of  American 
literature,  and  their  preparation  was  made  possible  only  by  means  of 
the  rare  advantages  for  personal  investigation  among  the  Dutch  and 
Japanese  archives  and  people. 

Dr.  Griffis,  although  a  learned  man,  possesses  the  happy  faculty  of 
making  himself  pleasant  to  all  classes  young  and  old,  and  is  much  loved 
by  his  people.  He  has  lived  a  life  of  great  intellectual  industry  and 
possesses  high  genius  both  as  a  preacher  and  author. 

Although  his  masterwork,  ''The  Mikado's  Empire,"  is  his  best  known 
book,  Dr.  Griffis  has  written  three  other  notable  books  about  Japan. 
These  are  "Verbeck  of  Japan,"  "A  Maker  of  the  New  Orient,"  being  a 
life  of  S.  R.  Brown  ;  and  a  story,  "In  the  Mikado's  Service."  He  also 
has  other  books  in  preparation  :  "Japanese  Feudalism,"  "Mikadoism," 
and  "  The  Constitutional  Development  of  Japan." 


PROMINENT    AMERICANS     INTERESTED    IN     JAPAN.         13 

MR.   DURHAM  WHITE  STEVENS, 

Honorary  Counsellor  of  the  Japanese  Legation,  Washington. 

Durham  White  Stevens  was  born  in  Washington,  D.  C,  and  was 
educated  there  and  at  Oberlin  College,  from  which  institution  he  grad 
uated  in  1871.  He  then  studied  law,  and  was  admitted  to  the  bar  in 
the  District  of  Columbia. 

In  1873  ne  was  appointed  secretary  of  the  United  States  Legation 
at  Tokyo  by  President  Grant.  The  Minister,  appointed  about  the  same 
time,  was  the  Hon.  John  A.  Bingham,  a  distinguished  public  man  and 
lawyer,  and  Mr.  Stevens  accompanied  him  to  Japan. 

Mr.  Stevens  served  in  the  capacity  of  secretary  of  the  United  States 
Legation  at  Tokyo  under  Mr.  Bingham  from  October,  1873,  until  July, 
1883,  and  on  one  occasion  as  Charge  d'Affaires  ad  interim,  in  1878-79. 
during  his  chief's  absence  in  the  United  States.  In  July  he  resigned 
the  office  and  returned  to  the  United  States.  In  November  of  that 
year  he  entered  the  service  of  the  Japanese  Government  as  English 
Secretary  to  the  Imperial  Legation  at  Washington.  In  1884  he  was 
ordered  to  Tokyo  for  service  in  the  Foreign  Office.  In  the  winter  of 
1884-85  he  accompanied  Count  Inouye  to  Korea,  when  the  latter  went 
as  ambassador  to  negotiate  a  settlement  of  the  difficulties  arising  from 
the  assault  upon  Mr.  Takezoye,  the  Japanese  Ministei  to  Korea,  and 
the  murder  of  a  number  of  Japanese  subjects.  For  services  rendered 
on  that  occasion  Mr.  Stevens  received  from  His  Majesty  the  Emperor 
the  decoration  of  the  Third  Class  of  the  Order  of  the  Rising  Sun. 

At  the  conference  for  the  revision  of  the  treaties  between  Japan  and 
the  foreign  powers  held  at  Tokyo  in  1885-87,  Mr.  Stevens  was  made  a 
member  of  the  Bureau  du  Protocole  of  the  conference,  and  served  in 
that  capacity  until  the  adjournment  of  the  conference.  He  then  returned 
to  the  Legation  at  Washington,  having  been  given  the  rank  of  Honorary 
Counsellor  of  Legation.  He  served  under  Count  Mutsu  when  the  latter 
was  Minister  at  Washington,  and  during  that  time  assisted  in  the  negotia 
tion  of  the  Treaty  with  Mexico,  which  was  the  first  treaty  made  by  Japan 
fully  recognizing  her  right  to  exercise  all  the  sovereign  powers  of  an 
independent  state.  He  also  served  under  Mr.  Kurino  at  Washington  at 


AIR.  DURHAM    WHITE    STKVKNS, 
Honorary  Counsellor  of  the  Japanese  Legation,  Washington. 


PROMINENT    AMERICANS     INTERESTED    IN    JAPAN.        15 

the  time  the  present  treaty  between  Japan  and  the  United  States  was 
negotiated. 

For  services  rendered  during  the  war  between  Japan  and  China,  Mr. 
Stevens  received  the  decoration  of  the  Second  Class  of  the  Sacred 
Treasure.  Subsequently  he  was  also  granted  the  decoration  of  the 
Second  Class  of  the  Order  of  the  Rising-  Sun. 

On  several  occasions  Mr.  Stevens  has  been  recalled  to  Japan  for 
temporary  service  in  connection  with  public  business,  and  on  two 
occasions,  in  1900  and  1901,  he  was  sent  to  Hawaii  to  assist  in  settling 
the  claims  of  Japanese  subjects  for  losses  occasioned  by  the  destruction 
of  their  property  on  account  of  the  prevalence  of  bubonic  plague  in  the 
Hawaiian  Islands  in  1899. 

Mr.  Stevens  has  now  been  nearly  twenty  years  in  the  Japanese 
service.  During  that  time  he  has  been  brought  in  contact  with  most 
of  the  prominent  men  of  Japan,  both  in  public  and  private  life.  The 
term  of  his  service  has  covered  one  of  the  most  important  and  inter 
esting  epochs  in  Japan's  history.  ** 


Motoori  caught  the  exact  spirit  of  Japan  and 
of  the  Japanese  character  in  his  immortal  gem 
of  five  lines : 

"  Shikishima  no 

Yamato  gokoro  wo 
Hito  Towaba 

Asahi  ni  niwou 
Yamazakura  hana! 

Which  Dr.  Nitobe  has  translated  into  English, 
as  follows : 

"  Isles  of  blest  Japan, 
Should  your  Yamato  Spirit 
Strangers  seek  to  scan, 
Say — scenting  morn's  sun-lit  air, 
Blows  the  cherry,  wild  and  fair !" 


REV.    MERRIMAN    COLBERT    HARRIS. 


PROMINENT   AMERICANS    INTERESTED    IN  JAPAN.          17 


REV.  MERRIMAN   COLBERT   HARRIS. 

Merriman  Colbert  Harris  was  born  in  Bealesville,  Ohio,  July  9, 
1846.  His  ancestors  settled  in  Virginia  before  and  during  the  war  of 
the  Revolution.  Upon  the  opening  up  of  the  Territory  of  Ohio  his 
immediate  ancestors  settled  in  that  promising  region.  He  was  educated 
in  the  common  schools,  and  at  the  age  of  seventeen — in  1863 — enlisted 
in  the  Twelfth  Ohio  Cavalry,  and  was  discharged  in  November,  1865, 
at  the  close  of  the  war. 

After  the  war  he  attended  school  at  Rural  Seminary  and  Wash 
ington  Academy,  and  afterward  taught  school  for  two  years.  He 
joined  the  Pittsburg  Conference  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Church 
and  was  ordained  a  minister  in  1871  in  Steubenville,  Ohio,  by  Bishop 
Clarke.  After  this  he  spent  three  years  at  Allegheny  College,  arid  in 
1873  was  graduated  B.  A.,  having  completed  the  classical  and  Biblical 
courses  of  that  institution. 

In  March,  1873,  he  was  appointed  a  missionary  of  the  Methodist 
Episcopal  Church  to  Japan.  In  October  of  the  same  year  he  was 
married  to  Flora  L.  Best,  of  Meadville,  Pa.,  and  left  immediately  for 
Japan,  accompanied  by  his  wife,  arriving  in  Yokohama  December  I4th. 
They  disembarked  and  remained  there  for  a  few  weeks,  and  then 
removed  to  Hakodate,  being  the  first  missionaries  to  North  Japan.  He 
lived  five  years  in  Hakodate,  and  there  began  the  study  of  the  languages 
and  civilization  of  Japan.  He  was  appointed  Vice-Consul  of  the  United 
States  in  1874,  and  assisted  the  American  Consul  in  his  duties  until 
the  death  of  the  latter  in  1875,  when  he  became  Acting  Consul,  and 
remained  in  charge  until  the  closing  of  the  Consulate  in  1878. 

In  the  year  1878  he  was  transferred  to  Tokyo,  Japan,  where  he 
resided  until  1886.  During  this  time  he  traveled  over  north  and 
central  Japan,  preached,  lectured  in  all  the  principal  cities,  organized 
churches  and  laid  the  foundation  for  many  Christian  societies.  He 
was  a  charter  member  of  the  Methodist  Episcopal  Mission,  which  was 
organized  on  his  birthday,  July  9,  1873,  m  Yokohama,  and  one  of  the 
original  members  of  the  Japan  Conference,  effected  in  July,  1884,  in 
Tokyo. 

On  account  of  the  illness  of  his  wife  he  returned  to  San  Francisco 
in  1886,  and  was  appointed  superintendent  of  the  Japanese  mission, 


18          PROMINENT  AMERICANS   INTERESTED   IN   JAPAN. 

where  he  has  lived  and  labored  until  the  present.  The  mission  in 
San  Francisco  has  prospered  and  spread  over  the  Pacific  Coast  and 
Hawaii,  and  is  now  organized  as  the  Pacific-Japanese  Mission,  with 
sixteen  churches  and  1,100  members  and  many  adherents. 

In  1898  he  visited  Japan  to  attend  the  twenty-fifth  anniversary  of 
the  Methodist  Episcopal  Mission.  During  this  visit  it  pleased  his 
Imperial  Japanese  Majesty  to  confer  on  him  the  Order  of  the  Sacred 
Treasure,  Fourth  Class.  In  1901  he  also  revisited  Japan  and  spent  three 
months  on  a  preaching  tour  in  connection  with  Forward  Movement 
of  the  Christian  Churches.  He  traveled  the  length  of  Japan,  and  was 
cordially  received  by  all  classes.  On  the  occasion  of  the  fifteen  anni 
versary  of  his  work  for  the  Japanese  on  the  Pacific  Coast  a  testimonial 
to  him  and  Mrs.  Harris  was  given  by  Japanese  of  all  classes,  at  which 
time  a  gift  of  a  beautiful  Geneva  watch  and  $1,000  were  tendered  to  him. 


CONSTANCY   IN   FRIENDSHIP. 

Hito  wa  iza 

Kokoro  mo  shirazu 
Furusato  wa 

Hana  zo  mukashi  no 

Ka  ni  nioi-keru 

(Ki  no  Tsurayuki.) 

No,  no !  as  for  man, 

How  his  heart  is  none  can  tell. 
But  the  plum's  sweet  flower 

In  my  birthplace,  as  of  yore, 

Still  emits  the  same  perfume. 


PROMINENT   AMERICANS   INTERESTED    IN   JAPAN.          19 


GENERAL    STEWART    LYNDON  WOODFORD. 

Stewart  Lyndon  Woodford  was  born  in  the  city  of  New  York  on 
September  3rd,  1835.  His  ancestors  on  both  sides  were  of  English  and 
Puritan  stock,  and  the  family  name  is  on  the  muster  rolls  of  the  colonial 
and  revolutionary  armies  and  in  the  War  of  1812.  General  Woodford, 
the  subject  of  this  sketch,  was  the  eighth  in  direct  descent  from  the  first 
of  these  pioneers. 

His  early  education  was  at  the  Columbia  Grammar  School.  When 
fifteen  years  old  he  entered  Columbia  College ;  spent  his  sophomore  and 
junior  years  at  Yale  College,  and  then  returned  to  Columbia  College, 
where  he  graduated  as  valedictorian  in  1854.  That  year  was  likewise 
the  centennial  year  of  his  alma  mater,  and  his  was  the  unique  distinction 
of  delivering  a  "centennial  oration"  in  place  of  the  customary  valedictory 
address. 

Mr.  Woodford  studied  law  and  was  admitted  to  practice  at  the  Bar 
of  New  York  State.  Early  in  life  he  took  an  active  part  in  public  affairs. 
In  1860  he  was  delegate  to  the  Republican  National  Convention  which 
nominated  Lincoln  for  the  Presidency,  and  in  December  of  that  year 
was  messenger  of  the  Electoral  College  of  New  York,  and  carried  the 
Lincoln  vote  to  Washington.  President  Lincoln  offered  him  a  federal 
judgeship  in  the  then  territory  of  Nebraska,  which  Mr.  W^oodford 
declined.  In  1861  he  was  appointed  Assistant  United  States  District 
Attorney  for  the  Southern  District  of  New  York  and  as  such  had  charge 
of  the  famous  blockade  cases  and  litigation  growing  out  of  the  War  of 
the  Rebellion.  Scarcely  a  year  had  passed  when  the  urgent  call  for  men 
at  the  front  led  him  to  resign  his  office  and  enter  the  army.  He  enlisted 
in  the  I27th  New  York  Volunteers,  was  at  once  promoted  to  be  captain 
of  his  company,  and  then  became  lieutenant-colonel.  He  served  in  this 
rank  for  two  years  and  during  most  of  this  time  was  in  command  of  his 
regiment.  After  much  active  service  in  the  field  he  became  Judge 
Advocate  General  of  the  Department  of  the  South,  Provost  Marshal 
General,  and  finally  Chief  of  Staff  to  General  Gilmore,  commanding  that 
Department.  After  the  victory  of  the  Union  forces  in  South  Carolina 
he  became  the  first  Military  Governor  of  Charleston,  and  was  subse 
quently  transferred  to  the  command  of  Savannah.  His  years  of  active 
service  in  the  field  won  for  him  promotion  as  colonel  and  brevet  brigadier 


GENERAL   STEWART    LYNDON    WOODFORD. 


PROMINENT   AMERICANS    INTERESTED    IN   JAPAN.          21 

general  for  gallantry  in  action.  The  list  of  brigadier  generals  being  rilled, 
he  was  assigned  by  special  order  of  the  President  to  duty  under  his  brevet 
rank  and  so  continued  to  the  end  of  the  war. 

General  Woodford  then  returned  to  his  law  practice.  He  declined 
the  Republican  nomination  for  Judge  of  the  Court  of  Common  Pleas  in 
the  city  of  New  York,  but  was  recalled  to  public  life  in  1886  by  election 
on  the  Republican  ticket  as  Lieutenant  Governor  of  the  State  of  New 
York.  In  1868  he  declined  a  congressional  nomination,  but  in  1872 
was  elected  member  of  Congress  from  Brooklyn.  The  year  1870  was 
memorable  by  the  contest  over  the  Governorship  between  the  Republican 
Party  and  the  famous  Tweed  ring.  General  Woodford  was  candidate 
of  his  party  in  this  contest,  but  his  opponent,  John  T.  Hoffman,  was 
declared  elected.  The  election  was  bitterly  contested,  and  Republicans 
throughout  the  State  asserted  that  the  Tweed  forces  had  deliberately 
counted  out  their  opponent.  This  contention  was  finally  demonstrated 
to  be  true  by  the  confessions  of  William  M.  Tweed  and  A.  Oakey  Hall 
themselves,  made  before  their  death.  Under  President  Grant  and  Presi 
dent  Garfield,  General  Woodford  again  served  as  United  States  District 
Attorney  and  remained  steadily  in  the  practice  of  his  profession  in  spite 
of  tempting  offers  in  the  form  of  various  diplomatic  positions  which  were 
offered  to  him.  In  the  Republican  National  Convention  of  1876  and 
1880  he  was  prominent  as  a  candidate  for  the  Vice-Presidential  nomina 
tion,  but  withdrew  in  the  former  convention  in  favor  of  William  A. 
Wheeler,  and  again  withdrew  in  the  latter  convention,  and  himself  placed 
Chester  A.  Arthur  in  nomination. 

In  1875  General  Woodford  rendered  what  some  have  considered  the 
most  signal  service  of  his  public  life.  Congress  had  passed  the  Resump 
tion  Act,  which  pledged  the  government  to  the  resumption  of  specie 
payment  on  the  first  day  of  January,  1879.  Gold  was  then  selling  at  a 
considerable  premium,  as  it  had  been  since  1862.  The  Democratic  Party 
of  Ohio  took  bold  and  uncompromising  ground  against  this  resumption ; 
declared  that  it  was  unwise,  unjust  to  the  debtor  class,  and  impossible  of 
execution.  The  Republican  Party,  then  in  power,  accepted  the  issue  as 
the  controlling  one,  and  made  the  local  canvass  in  Ohio  the  first  contest 
of  the  campaign.  General  Woodford  had  become  known  as  an  earnest 
advocate  of  specie  resumption.  Although  a  New  Yorker,  and  thus 
recognized  as  a  representative  of  Wall  Street  interests,  he  went  to  Ohio 
and  conducted  what  proved  to  be  one  of  the  most  remarkable  series  of 


22          PROMINENT   AMERICANS    INTERESTED    IN   JAPAN. 

joint  debates  in  our  political  history.  He  and  his  opponent,  General 
Thomas  Ewing,  the  leader  of  the  Ohio  Democracy,  spoke  at  the  same 
meetings,  with  the  result  that  Rutherford  B.  Hayes  was  elected  as  Gover 
nor  by  the  narrow  majority  of  about  5,000.  But  the  Republican  victory 
and  the  verdict  in  favor  of  sound  money  fixed  the  attitude  of  the  parties, 
decided  the  question  of  resumption,  and  restored  the  financial  credit  of 
the  nation. 

For  a  number  of  years  past  General  Woodford  has  mainly  devoted 
himself  to  his  profession,  and  is  a  member  of  the  law  firm  of  Ritch, 
Woodford,  Bovee  &  Butcher,  in  New  York  City.  In  1896  he  was 
appointed  by  Governor  Morton  as  one  of  the  commissioners  to  prepare 
the  charter  of  the  consolidated  city  of  the  Greater  New  York.  In  1897 
he  was  again  called  into  the  service  of  his  country  by  his  appointment 
under  President  McKinley  as  United  States  Minister  to  the  Court  of 
Madrid.  This  mission,  owing  to  the  strained  relations  between  Spain 
and  the  United  States  regarding  Cuba,  was  the  most  delicate  and  respon 
sible  post  in  our  entire  diplomatic  service.  He  remained  at  Madrid 
during  the  long  and  exciting  negotiations  until  war  was  formally 
declared  on  the  2ist  of  April,  1898.  Upon  his  return  to  the  United 
States,  President  McKinley  offered  him  a  commission  as  Major  General 
in  the  volunteer  army.  But  General  Woodford  declined  the  commission 
and  continued  as  titular  Minister  to  Spain  until  September,  1898,  when 
he  resigned  and  received  the  thanks  of  the  Department  of  State  and  of 
the  President  for  the  faithful  and  effective  discharge  of  his  duties.  He 
is  now  practising  law,  is  director  and  trustee  in  several  leading  financial 
institutions,  is  a  trustee  of  Cornell  University,  and  is  deeply  interested  in 
all  educational  matters. 

The  General  has  always  been  a  friend  of  Japan.  Recently  he 
returned  from  quite  an  extended  visit  to  that  country,  and  to  China ;  and, 
in  an  interview  given  to  the  "Independent,"  he  said : 

"During  my  recent  visit  to  Japan  I  was  singularly  favored  by  the 
courtesy  of  Marquis  Ito,  to  whom  I  had  letters  of  introduction,  and  by 
the  kindness  of  my  old  army  friend,  Colonel  Buck,  who  has  been  for  some 
five  years  the  able  representative  of  our  government  at  Tokyo.  I  feel 
that  my  opportunity  for  seeing  the  country  and  getting  acquainted  with 
its  people  were  exceptionally  good,  and  I  certainly  received  vivid  impres 
sions  of  the  progress  that  has  been  made  in  Japan.  That  progress  is 
very  significant  in  its  relation  to  China. 


PROMINENT  AMERICANS   INTERESTED   IN   JAPAN.          23 

"Japan  is  admirable  in  many  ways.  Physically  i^  is  a  very  beautiful 
country.  The  Japanese  are  certainly  a  remarkable  people.  As  a  nation 
Japan  is  as  compact  and  cohesive  as  any  nation  on  the  globe,  and  her 
people  are  essentially  patriotic.  They  are  polite,  industrious,  capable, 
and  peculiarly  ambitious.  Remember  that  it  is  not  fifty  years  since 
Commodore  Perry  opened  the  empire  to  the  outside  world.  It  is  hardly 
fair  to  compare  Japan  with  Western  Europe  or  with  the  United  States, 
but  compared  to  the  rest  of  Asia  she  is  immeasurably  in  advance.  She 
is  still  advancing.  She  has  over  2,000  miles  of  steam  railway  in  operation 
and  is  steadily  building  more.  There  are  tramways  in  Tokyo  and 
Nagoya,  gas  and  electric  plants  in  most  of  the  larger  cities,  and  the 
representative  of  R.  G.  Dun  &  Co.,  who  returned  on  the  steamer  with 
me,  told  me  that  the  commercial  marine  of  Japan  registered  in  her 
home  ports  now  exceeds  3,000,000  tons.  The  Japanese  steam  lines 
connect  with  Vancouver,  Seattle,  San  Francisco,  Honolulu,  Australia 
and  all  Chinese  coast  ports  and  Vladivostock. 

"  Ambitious  as  the  Japanese  unquestionably  are,  I  do  not  believe 
that  Japan  seeks  to  profit  by  the  misfortunes  of  China  or  desires  to 
wrest  from  those  misfortunes  her  own  aggrandizement.  I  do  not  believe 
that  Japan  seeks  loot  or  present  territorial  expansion  at  the  expense 
of  China.  On  the  contrary,  Japan  regards  China  with  affectionate 
reverence,  and  has  a  most  earnest  desire  to  assist  China  in  all  possible 
development.  She  wishes  China  to  wake  up,  to  become  strong,  and 
to  be  in  fact,  as  well  as  in  name,  a  nation.  All  that  Japan  can  do  to 
bring  this  about  will  be  done  with  patience,  delicacy,  and  with  a  per 
sistence  that  I  do  not  believe  can  be  finally  baffled.  Japan  is  steadily 
acquiring  the  industrial  and  scientific  education  of  Europe  and  America. 
She  is  assimilating  what  we  know  and  what  we  can  do.  The  Japanese 
do  not  seem  to  me  to  be  an  essentally  inventive  people.  They  acquire, 
adapt  and  use,  but  have  hardly  yet  reached  the  point  where  they 
improve  upon  our  methods.  With  wonderful  honesty  of  judgment 
Japan  recognized  her  deficiency  when  first  brought  into  contact  with 
the  nations  of  the  West,  and  with  unprecedented  patience,  humility, 
intelligence  and  unanimity  of  purpose  she  has  sought,  and  still  seeks,  to 
remedy  these  deficiencies.  It  has  been  a  great  work  well  done.  When 
you  recall  what  she  was  in  1853  you  will  realize  this  more  clearly. 
Japan  was  then  a  medieval  nation.  She  had  art,  temples,  a  completely 
developed  feudal  system  and  good  local  industries,  but  she  knew  literally 


24          PROMINENT  AMERICANS   INTERESTED   IN   JAPAN. 

nothing  of  modern  science,  and  was  where  Europe  was  about  the  year 
800,  without  any  of  the  impulses  of  what  we  understand  of  Christian 
development.  To-day  she  has  not  only  railways,  telegraphs  and  machine 
shops,  but  a  very  complete  and  general  system  of  popular  education, 
beginning  with  the  kindergarten  and  culminating  in  two  great  national 
universities — one  at  Tokyo  and  one  at  Kyoto.  There  are  more  than 
2,000  students  in  the  university  at  Tokyo,  and  nearly  half  of  the  children 
of  school  age  are  in  the  public  schools  of  Japan. 

"  Now  that  she  has  fairly  won  to  the  front  among  the  powers  of 
the  world,  she  is  reaching  out  a  hand  to  help  China  climb.  There  are 
in  Japanese  colleges  and  schools  to-day  more  than  500  Chinese  students, 
who  are  being  educated  by  the  Japanese  in  modern  science  and  in 
Japanese  methods. 

'  The  foreign  trade  of  Japan  is  constantly  increasing,  and  we  are 
not  getting  that  proportion  to  which  our  situation  on  the  east  side  of 
the  Pacific  and  our  industrial  abilities  justly  entitle  us.  The  English 
and  the  Germans — especially  the  Germans — are  exploiting  with  energy 
and  shrewdness,  and  they  are  getting  trade  that  logically  belongs  to  us. 

"  I  found  new  Japan  calling  Commodore  Perry  its  father  and  cele 
brating  the  Fourth  of  July  with  more  than  Yankee  fervor.  When  I 
sailed  from  Yokohama  the  town  was  fairly  ablaze  with  our  flag.  This 
gratitude  deserves  our  friendship,  and  I  heartily  hope  that  Japan  may 
realize  her  brightest  dream  of  effective  friendship  for  China." 


PROMINENT   AMERICANS    INTERESTED    IN   JAPAN.          25 

PROF.  DAVID  STARR  JORDAN. 

David  Starr  Jordan,  whose  wide  interest  in  everything  pertaining 
to  the  Pacific  Ocean  and  coasts,  and  in  Japan  in  particular,  has  endeared 
him  to  the  Japanese,  was  born  January  19,  1851,  at  Gainesville,  New 
York.  His  father  was  Hiram  Jordan,  and  his  mother's  name  before 
marriage  was  Huldah  Hawley.  He  received  his  early  education  at  the 
academy  in  Gainesville,  and  entered  the  first  Freshman  class  of  Cornell 
University  in  1869.  He  was  graduated  from  this  university  in  1872 
with  the  degree  of  M.S.  He  afterwards,  in  1875,  obtained  the  degree  of 
Medical  Doctor  from  the  Indiana  Medical  College,  Ph.D.  from  Butler 
University  in  1878,  LL.D.  from  Cornell  University  in  1886. 

His  career  as  an  instructor  and  teacher  began  in  1871,  when  he  was 
made  an  instructor  in  botany  in  Cornell  University.  He  was  Professor 
of  Natural  History  in  Lombard  University  in  1872-73,  Principal  of 
Appleton  (Wisconsin)  Collegiate  Institute,  1873-74 ;  student,  and  after- 
"vaicls  Lecturer,  in  Marine  Botany  in  the  Anderson  School  at  Penikese, 
Teacher  of  Natural  History  in  the  Indianapolis  High  School,  1874-75; 
Professor  of  Biology  in  Butler  University,  1875-79;  Assistant  United 
States  Fish  Commissioner,  1877-91  ;  Professor  of  Zoology  in  Indiana 
University,  1879-85;  President  of  Indiana  University,  1885-91;  Trustee 
of  Cornell  University,  1887-92,  and  has  been  President  of  Leland  Stan 
ford,  Jr.,  University  since  1891.  In  1896-98  he  was  elected  President  of 
the  California  Academy  of  Sciences,  and  again  in  1901.  He  was  made 
United  States  Commissioner  in  Charge  of  the  Fur  Seal  Investigations, 
1896-98,  and  has  been  Commissioner  in  Charge  of  United  States  Fish 
Commission  Investigations  in  Pacific  Ocean  since.  1901. 

Dr.  Jordan  has  been  and  still  is  a  prolific  writer,  as  he  is  a  recognized 
authority  on  a  number  of  related  subjects.  His  most  important  publi 
cations  are  the  following :  Synopsis  of  the  Fishes  of  North  America,  with 
Dr.  Charles  H.  Gilbert,  1882  ;  revised  and  enlarged  under  title  of  Fishes 
of  North  and  Middle  America,  with  Dr.  Barton  W.  Evermann,  1896;  A 
Check  List  of  the  Fishes  and  Fish-like  Vertebrates  of  North  and  Middle 
America,  with  Dr.  Barton  W.  Evermann,  1896;  Report  of  Fur  Seal 
Investigations,  1896-97;  A  Manual  ot  the  Vertebrate  Animals  of  the 
Northern  United  States,  1875;  Science  Sketches,  1887;  Footnotes  to 
Evolution,  1898;  Imperial  Democracy,  1899;  Care  and  Culture  of  Men, 


PROF.    DAVID    STARR    JORDAN. 
President  of  Leland  Stanford,  Jr.,  University. 


PROMINENT  AMERICANS   INTERESTED    IN   JAPAN.          27 

1896;  The  Story  of  the  Innumerable  Company  and  Other  Sketches,  1896; 
Matka  and  Kotik,  1897;  The  Book  of  Knight  and  Barbara,  1899;  The 
Strength  of  Being  Clean,  1900 ;  Standeth  God  Within  the  Shadow,  1900 ; 
The  Philosophy  of  Despair,  1902 ;  The  Blood  of  the  Nation,  1902. 

He  is  a  contributor  to  the  Atlantic  Monthly,  the  Forum,  the  Ameri 
can  Naturalist,  the  Dial,  the  Popular  Science  Monthly,  Science.  He 
is  also  a  Fellow  of  the  American  Association  for  Advancement  of 
Science,  a  member  of  the  American  Ornithological  Union,  and  Biological 
Society  of  Washington,  D.  C. 

The  reputation  of  Dr.  Jordan  and  his  well  known  friendliness  toward 
the  Japanese  have  attracted  many  young  Japanese  to  Leland  Stanford, 
Jr.,  University.  Many  of  these  have  graduated  from  that  institution, 
and  there  are  now  some  35  students  from  Japan  in  the  institution. 


The  nightingale  is  fond  of  the  plum  in  flowers, 
and  a  young  girl  had  a  beautiful  tree  in  which 
a  songster  came  daily  to  pour  out  its  "  full  heart 
in  profuse  strains  of  unpremeditated  art."  But 
it  so  happened  that  the  favorite  plum  tree  of 
the  Emperor  died,  and  his  servants,  searching 
for  one  to  take  its  place,  seized  the  girl's.  She 
thereupon  wrote  the  following  verses  and  secretly 
fastened  them  to  the  tree : 

"  Claimed  for  our  Sovereign's  use, 
Blossoms  I  have  loved  so  long — 

Can  I  in  duty  fail 

But  for  the  Nightingale, 
Seeking  her  home  of  song, 

How  can  I  find  excuse." 

The  simple  and  deep  beauty  of  it  draws  tears. 
Of  course,  the  Emperor  had  the  plum  tree  re 
stored  to  the  girl  and  the  bird. 


MR.    JAMES     ROLLAND    MORSE, 
President  of  American  Trading  Company. 


PROMINENT    AMERICANS    INTERESTED    IN    JAPAN.          29 


MR.  JAMES  HOLLAND  MORSE. 

James  Rolland  Morse,  president  of  the  American  Trading  Company, 
of  25  Broad  street,  New  York  City,  was  born  in  Fondulac  County, 
Wis.,  January  i,  1848.  At  the  age  of  fourteen,  in  company  with  his 
father  and  brother,  he  went  to  Nevada,  where  he  remained  for  three 
years,  and  from  there  went  to  California,  locating  in  San  Francisco. 
In  1868  he  entered  the  employ  of  H.  H.  Bancroft  &  Co.,  publishers, 
booksellers  and  stationers,  and  remained  with  them  until  1871,  when, 
in  company  with  F.  B.  Bancroft,  he  went  to  Portland,  Ore.,  where  the 
two  started  in  business  under  the  firm  name  of  Bancroft  &  Morse,  in 
1873.  Mr.  Morse  sold  out  his  interest  in  the  firm  and  returned  to 
San  Francisco,  to  enter  again  the  employ  of  H.  H.  Bancroft  &  Co.  as 
manager  of  one  of  their  principal  departments.  In  February,  1875,  ne 
went  to  Japan  to  join  the  firm  of  Chipman,  Stone  &  Co.  The  following 
year  the  firm  failed,  and  Mr.  Morse  was  selected  to  take  charge  of  and 
close  up  the  business  for  the  benefit  of  the  creditors,  some  of  whom 
joined  him,  in  1877,  in  starting  the  American  Clock  and  Brass  Company, 
he  becoming  the  general  manager  for  China  and  Japan.  In  1883  the 
name  was  changed  to  the  American  Trading  Company,  and  Mr.  Morse 
went  to  London  to  open  a  branch  and  appoint  an  agent  to  do  the 
company's  buying  for  their  Eastern  branches,  which  included  Yokohama 
and  Kobe,  Japan;  and  Shanghai,  China.  Mr.  Morse  was  the  first 
American  to  have  business  relations  with  Korea,  and  was  authorized 
by  that  Government,  in  1883,  to  negotiate  a  loan  for  £600,000,  offering 
as  security  all  the  mines  of  the  country  and  the  customs  revenues.  So 
little  was  known  of  the  Hermit  Kingdom  at  that  time  that  financiers 
could  not  be  induced  to  make  the  loan.  A  few  years  later  Mr.  Morse 
obtained  a  large  mining  concession  in  Korea,  which  is  now  being 
successfully  worked  by  an  American  syndicate.  He  also  obtained  a 
concession  for  a  railway  to  connect  the  principal  seaport,  Chemulpo, 
with  the  capital,  Seoul.  Associated  with  him  in  his  enterprises  were 
fifteen  of  the  leading  bankers  of  Japan,  headed  by  Baron  Shibusawa. 
The  road  was  completed  and  formally  opened  in  October,  1901.  It  is 
the  only  fully  equipped  American  railway  in  the  Far  East  and  the 
first  road  to  be  built  in  Korea. 

For  nearly  twenty-eight  years  Mr.  Morse  has  been  closely  identified 
with  the  development  of  trade  between  the  United  States  and  the  Far 
East,  and  only  recently  gave  up  his  home  in  Japan  to  return  to  New 
York  to  take  charge  of  the  enormous  business  his  company  is  now 
transacting  with  nearly  all  parts  of  the  globe. 


PROF.  GEORGE  TRUMBULL  LADD. 


PROMINENT  AMERICANS    INTERESTED    IN   JAPAN.          31 

PROF.  GEORGE  TRUMBULL  LADD. 

"  The  intellectual  world  of  New  Japan  will  ever  feel  gratitude  toward 
Professor  Ladd  for  his  untiring  trips,  taken  from  a  long  distance,  in 
order  that  his  lectures  may  be  delivered  within  its  very  gates.  It  is 
with  a  sense  of  pride  for  a  Japanese  to  think  that  Japan  was  able  to 
pursuade  this  man,  one  of  the  intellectual  giants  of  the  age,  to  come 
and  assist  in  the  development  of  her  youthful  intelligence.  Japan  has 
advanced  on  her  material  path,  and,  thanks  to  Professor  Ladd  and 
others,  she  has  also  made  an  intellectual  advance." 

These  are  the  comments  on  Prof.  George  Trumbull  Ladd,  the 
professor  of  philosophy  and  metaphysics  in  the  Graduate  School  of 
Yale  University,  by  one  of  the  Japanese  students  under  his  instruction. 
His  efforts  for  Japan  have  already  been  recognized,  and  his  interest 
in  that  country  is  widely  known,  it  is  scarcely  needed  here  to  enter 
at  length  into  the  work  that  he  has  done,  except  to  add  what  already 
has  been  said  elsewhere,  in  order  to  emphasize  the  prominence  with 
which  he  is  connected  with  Japan. 

Prof.  G.  T.  Ladd  was  born  January  19,  1842.  His  first  tour  to 
Japan  was  in  1892.  He  was  several  times  appointed  a  lecturer  in  the 
Doshi-sha  University,  Kyoto,  and  conducted  the  graduate  seminary  in 
the  summer  school  of  the  university.  In  1899  he  was  invited  by  the 
Dai-Nippon  Educational  Society  of  Japan,  and  again  visited  that  country. 
He  delivered  a  series  of  lectures  in  the  Tokyo  Imperial  University. 
He  was  elected  an  honorary  member  of  this  great  educational  society 
of  Japan,  granted  an  audience  with  the  Emperor,  who  conferred  on 
him  the  decoration  of  the  Order  of  the  Rising  Sun,  third  degree. 

A  great  number  of  the  philosophical  works  of  this  distinguished 
psychologist  have  been  translated  into  Japanese,  and  they  are  most 
deeply  read  by  the  progressive  Japanese. 

Professor  Ladd  is,  perhaps,  the  most  widely  known  of  the  foreign 
instructors  in  the  universities  and  colleges  of  Japan.  Many  intelligent 
Japanese,  who  at  present  occupy  the  highest  chairs  in  philosophy, 
psychology,  ethics  or  theology  in  the  universities  of  Japan,  have,  either 
in  this  country  or  in  Japan,  received  his  instruction.  This  Yale  pro 
fessor  not  only  takes  an  interest  in  his  Japanese  students  during  lecture 
hours,  but  has  a  constant  care  for  the  Japanese  students  generally  out 
side  of  their  college  life.  His  home  is  their  Mekka,  and  a  meeting  is 
held  in  his  parlor  every  fortnight,  when  he  talks  to  them  on  some 
subject  of  philosophy,  religion  or  other  related  topics. 


MR.   FRANKLIN  ALLEN, 

Secretary  of  the  Silk  Association   of  America. 


PROMINENT    AMERICANS     INTERESTED    IN     JAPAN.        33 


MR.    FRANKLIN    ALLEN. 

Franklin  Allen  is  generally  considered  the  best  informed  man  living 
on  matters  relating-  to  the  silk  industry  of  the  United  States,  which  he 
has  seen  grow  from  moderate  dimensions  to  its  present  enormous  impor 
tance.  He  was  the  first  secretary  of  the  Silk  Association  of  America, 
serving  from  18/2  to  1878,  when  he  resigned  and  went  to  Europe,  where 
he  devoted  much  time  to  the  study  of  foreign  methods.  He :  was 
re-elected  secretary  in  1898,  on  the  death  of  Briton  Richardson,  whoj  had 
been  the  association's  secretary  for  ten  years.  Mr.  Allen  is  a  life  member 
of  the  Political  and  Social  Science  Association,  and  is  a  certified  public 
accountant  of  the  State  of  New  York,  holding  diploma  No.  68,  issued  by 
the  Board  of  Regents  of  the  University  of  the  State  of  New  York,  under 
the  law  of  1896,  to  regulate  the  profession  of  public  accountants.  He  is 
an  indefatigable  worker,  a  profound  student,  has  a  genius  for  statistics, 
and  has  been  a  prolific  writer  on  matters  relating  to  the  silk  industry  here 
and  abroad.  He  was  an  expert  special  agent  for  the  silk  branch  of 
Anierican  textile  industries  in  the  United  States  census  of  1900.  -He  is 
a  genial  gentleman;  a  type  of  those  men  of  the  highest  and  broadest 
education,  who,  besides  knowing  all  about  one  subject,  can  talk  under- 
standingly  and  interestingly  on  many  branches  of  human  study  and  effort. 


PROVERB    AND   SHORT   POEM. 

Neko  n i  koban,  gold  coins  to  a  cat  (casting 
pearls  before  swine). 

Hito  koe  wa ; 

-  -Tsuki  -ga  -natta  ka  ? 
Hototogisu ! 

(I  hear)  a  solitary  note.      Did  the  moon  sing? 
(Ah!)  the  cuckoo! 


MR.    ALFRED    J.    OSTHEIMER. 
Honorary  Japanese   Consul  at  Philadelphia. 


PROMINENT    AMERICANS     INTERESTED    IN     JAPAN.        35 

HON.  ALFRED  J.  OSTHEIMER. 

Consul  Ostheimer  is  a  man  who  believes,  as  a  great  man  once  said, 
in  the  doctrine  that  God  made  out  of  the  men  of  all  nations  one  great 
humanity.  It  was  not  considered  best  to  make  them  acquainted  with  one 
another,  and  that  has  been  left  to  us.  Wide  oceans,  high  mountains, 
and  broad  rivers  separate  the  various  nations  of  the  world,  but  the 
progressive  men  scale  the  mountains  and  navigate  the  oceans  and  rivers ; 
so  that  eventually  nothing  divides  people  but  distrust,  because  they  are 
not  acquainted  with  one  another. 

It  had  always  been  Mr.  Ostheimer's  desire  to  study  the  great 
country  of  Japan,  and  he  considered  it  one  of  the  highest  honors  of  his 
life  when  he  was  appointed  some  years  ago  the  first  Honorary  Consul  of 
Japan  in  the  United  States. 

When  Mr.  Ostheimer  was  appointed  consul,  his  selection  for  this 
honorable  post  was  thus  commented  on  by  the  "  Public  Ledger  "  of 
Philadelphia : 

"  As  a  result  of  the  constantly  increasing  importance  of  the  com 
mercial  relations  between  the  Empire  of  Japan  and  the  United  States  of 
America,  his  Imperial  Majesty,  the  Emperor  of  Japan,  has  just  appointed 
Alfred  J.  Ostheimer  as  his  Honorary  Consul  at  this,  port,  and,  it  is  said 
by  the  well  informed,  that  this  appointment  is  the  first  Honorary  Consul 
ship  in  the  United  States,  thus  making  it  of  considerable  importance. 

"  Alfred  J.  Ostheimer,  who  is  exceptionally  well  equipped  by  his 
experience  and  knowledge  of  foreign  languages  for  the  position  to  which 
he  has  just  been  appointed,  was  born  in  this  city  in  1845,  educated  here 
and  in  Europe,  and  has  been  largely  engaged  in  mercantile  pursuits  as 
an  importer  and  exporter,  having  succeeded  the  old  firm  of  Ostheimer 
&  Woodward  in  1872,  and  now  being  at  the  head  of  one  of  the  largest 
export  commission  houses  in  this  country.  The  firm  of  Ostheimer 
Brothers  import  and  export  wares  from  and  to  all  parts  of  the  world,  and 
have  their  own  offices  in  many  of  the  large  cities.  Mr.  A.  J.  Ostheimer 
was,  in  the  course  of  business,  brought  into  frequent  contact  with  the 
Empire  of  Japan.  He  is  one  of  our  most  prominent  citizens,  and  is 
identified  with  almost  all  of  the  enterprises  which  have  made  our  city  so 
well  known  during  the  past  twenty-five  years. 

"  Business  men  congratulate  the  Imperial  Government  of  Japan  in 
having  chosen  so  competent  a  representative  of  their  interests  in  this 


36        PROMINENT    AMERICANS     INTERESTED    IN     JAPAN. 

city,  as  Philadelphia,  in  having-  been  selected  as  the  first  American  city 
to  have  an  Honorary  Japanese  Consul,  is  thought  to  have  been  signally 
honored." 

Alfred  J.  Ostheimer  was  born  in  the  city  of  Philadelphia  in  1845, 
was  educated  at  the  best  schools,  and  then  went  abroad  for  a  number  of 
years  to  make  a  special  study  of  languages  and  political  economy.  The 
firm  with  which  he  is  connected  was  established  by  his  father  in  1835  m 
Philadelphia,  and  the  nature  of  the  business  was  mainly  the  importing 
of  all  kinds  of  goods;  until  1876,  when  the  Centennial  Exposition  in 
Philadelphia  brought  a  large  number  of  foreigners  to  that  city,  and  the 
export  trade  of  the  United.  States,  which  is  now  the  largest  in  the  world, 
found  its  first  incentive  to  its  present  material  development,  and  the 
causes  of  which  were  the  great  inducements  offered  to  foreign  buyers. 

Mr.  Ostheimer  has  been  Consul  for  Austria-Hungary  in  Philadelphia 
for  a  number  of  years,  and  in  consideration  of  his  services  rendered  to 
those  countries,  was  decorated  with  the  Order  of  the  Iron  Crown  by 
Emperor  Francis  Joseph. 

He  has  always  taken  an  exceptional  interest  in  the  island  Empire 
of  Japan  ;  and  it  was  his  greatest  desire  as  a  young  man  to  be  in  business 
relation  with  the  Japanese.  In  the  export  business,  which  he  established 
after  1876  in  Philadelphia,  under  the  name  of  Ostheimer  Brothers,  which 
has  grown  to  very  large  proportions,  as  they  are  now  considered  among 
the  leading  exporters  of  the  country,  he  had  many  opportunities  of  doing 
business  with  Japan,  all  of  which  he  took  advantage  of,  and  in  considera 
tion  of  which  he  was  appointed  Consular  Representative  of  Japan  in 
Philadelphia.  He  has  since  made  a  trip  to  Japan  to  study  the  people 
and  country,  and  is  probably  as  much  interested  as  any  other  one  man 
in  the  United  States  in  the  great  development  which  has  taken  place 
in  the  Empire  of  Japan  during  the  last  thirty  years.  He  has  done  every 
thing  in  his  power  to  enlarge  the  cordial  relations  which  have  prevailed 
between  the  Empire  of  Japan  and  the  United  States  ever  since  the 
beginning  of  their  official  intercourse,  and  the  intimate  association  and 
the  generous  rivalry  of  the  two  countries  and  their  peoples  in  the  paths 
of  progress  and  material  development — the  one  representing  the  new  era 
in  the  Far  East,  and  the  other  the  advancement  of  the  Western  Hemi 
sphere,  together  making  the  greatest  combination  of  the  world. 

Consul  Ostheimer  was  also  decorated  while  in  Japan  by  the  Emperor 
Mutsuhito  with  the  Order  of  the  Rising  Sun.  He  is  now  considered 
as  one  of  the  best  friends  that  Japan  has  in  the  United  States. 


PROMINENT    AMERICANS     INTERESTED    IN     JAPAN.        37 


MR.   JOSEPH  MARSHALL  WADE. 

It  is  safe  to  say  that  the  majority  of  the  Japanese  in  this  country, 
and  many  of  those  now  in  Japan  who  have  visited  the  United  States, 
will  recognize  in  the  accompanying  portrait  the  face  of  a  friend  who 
has  undoubtedly  taken  more  interest  in  their  welfare  here  than  any  other 
person,  except,  perhaps,  those  \yho  are  direct  representatives  of  the 
Government  of  Japan.  The  purpose  of  this  sketch  is  to  put  on  record 
the  life  of  one  who  has  done  so  much  for  the  Japanese  people,  and  to 
give  to  those  who  have  not  known  him  personally  some  information 
in  rejgard  to  one  upon  whom  the  Emperor  has  recently  bestowed  the 
"  Fifth  Order  of  Double  Light  Rising  Sun." 

Mr.  Wade  was  born  at  New  Wortley,  near  Leeds,  England,  on 
March  /,  1832.  He  attended  the  "  Armley  Church  Day  School  " 
untili about  his  seventeenth  year,  during  which  time,  when  not  in  school, 
he  ranged  the  fields  and  woods  and  waterways  and  obtained  an  extensive 
kno\yledge  of  nature,  knowing  almost  every  bird,  animal,  tree  and  plant. 
He  knew  neither  botany  nor  nrniilmlogy,  but  nature  as  she  is,  not  as 
catalogued.  \Yhen  about  to  leave  school  he  had  learned  all  that  it 
was  ^necessary  to  know,  and  his  intuition  was  intense.  His  boyhood, 
and  even  his  early  manhood,  was  marked  by  extreme  J)ashfulness,  and 
he  sought  the  woods,  where  he  found  more  contentment  with  the  com- 
pani<pnship  of  birds  and  animals.  In  October,  1850,  he  was  brought 
to  tlje  United  States  by  his  parents.  He  first  started  with  his  brother 
as  a -weaver  in  Lawrence,  and,  with  no  teaching  or  apprenticeship,  he 
became  at  once  an  expert  weaver.  The  history  of  his  mill  life  is  a 
succession  of  advances  from  weaver  to  the  leading  designer  of  America, 
and  in  1864  he  was  agent  of  a  large  woolen  mill,  with  a  salary  of  $8,000 
a  year. 

The  first  publication  undertaken  by  Mr.  \Yade  was  the  "  Fanciers' 
Journal.''  Though  he  had  no  knowledge  of  the  publishing  business, 
lie  was  in  love  with  the  subject  chosen,  and,  with  a  thorough  knowlegde 
of  the  matters  upon  which  his  journal  was  to  treat,  he  made  it  so  valuable 
and  of  such  general  interest  to  the  keepers  of  fancy  poultry,  pets,  etc., 
that  its  success  was  assured.  His  early  associations  with  nature  were 
bound  to  crop  out  in  his  writings  when  he  became  a  publisher,  and  he 
started  other  papers,  called  the  "  Ornithologist  and  Oologist,"  "  Familiar 


MR.   JOSEPH   MARSHALL   WADE. 


PROMINENT    AMERICANS     INTERESTED    IN     JAPAN.        39 

Science  "  and  "  Truths  of  Nature."  As  he  became  known  as  a  pub 
lisher,  his  services  were  sought  by  publishers  of  trade  papers,  who  knew 
of  his  superior  and  practical  knowledge  of  manufacturing.  He  became 
connected  with  the  Boston  "  Journal  of  Commerce  "  as  editor,  and  in 
1885  he  established  "  Fibre  and  Fabric,"  a  weekly  textile  journal  de 
voted  to  the  cotton,  woolen  and  other  similar  industries.  As  editor, 
publisher  and  general  manager  of  "  Fibre  and  Fabric,"  now  in  its 
eighteenth  year,  Mr.  Wade  is  actively  engaged  at  his  desk  every  day. 
Besides  the  work  connected  with  the  paper,  he  is  able  to  find  time  to 
correspond  daily  with  Japanese,  both  in  this  country  and  in  Japan. 
Professors  in  the  technological  schools  and  heads  of  the  Chambers  of 
Commerce  in  the  large  Japanese  cities  receive  from  him  regularly 
papers,  magazines,  samples,  clippings,  etc.,  that  are  useful  in  the  devel 
opment  of  Japanese  industries,  as  well  as  helping  to  promote  Japanese 
trade  with  America  and  other  countries.  While  publishing  "  Fibre 
and  Fabric,"  Mr.  \Vade  has  also  constantly  written  of  the  deeper  prin 
ciples  of  natural  law.  In  1893-1895  two  volumes  of  a  magazine  entitled 
"  Occultism  "  were  published,  in  order  to  put  on  record  some  of  his 
deepest  writings. 

Mr.  Wade  is  still  a  most  energetic  business  man,  positive  and 
unflinching.  He  has  not  taken  a  voluntary  holiday  since  1850.  He 
never  enters  a  church  or  seeks  society  or  a  meeting  of  any  kind ;  he  is 
a  hermit  in  a  busy  city — he  lives  within  himself.  In  his  business 
dealings  he  is  prompt  and  just,  and  pays  cash  for  everything  when 
purchased.  He  knows  nothing  of  grammar,  but  writes  in  plain  English, 
simple  and  straight  to  the  point,  in  as  few  wrords  a^>  possible  and  without 
any  technical  construction.  He  writes  naturally,  dispensing  with  man's 
teachings  and  rules,  and  those  who  read  his  writings  are  surprised  to 
note  the  smoothness  of  his  sentences.  One  of  his  friends,  one  who 
knows  him  best,  has  written :  "  Mr.  Wade's  golden  rule  is,  Work,  and 
his  motto  is,  '  Non  Sibi  Sed  Omnibus  '  (Not  for  one's  self,  but  for  all). 
This  motto  will  tell  you  what  Mr.  Wade's  daily  life  has-  been  and  is 
to-day,  though  financially  he  has  no  need  to  do  business.  Every  day 
finds  him  first  at  his  office,  and  he  takes  no  note  of  holidays.  He  has 
to  do  no  scheming,  has  no  anxiety,  wear  and  tear  of  body  and  brain 
that  ordinary  business  men  are  subject  to,  because  he  never  borrows, 
owes  no  man  anything.  He  lives  in  harmony  with  the  law  of  life; 
his  business  goes  on  in  an  orderly  manner,  and  always  prospers.  He 


40        PROMINENT    AMERICANS     INTERESTED    IN     JAPAN. 

works  for  the  benefit  of  his  neighbor,  and  not  to  overeach,  defraud  or 
depress  him.  lie  is  hale  and  hearty,  free  and  happy,  at  seventy,  while 
the  ordinary  business  man  is  broken  and  aged,  wretched,  and  finds 
life  a  burden  and  a  barren  waste  at  fifty.  Mr.  Wade  has  no  joy  in 
anything-  he  does  or  has  except  for  the  benefit  it  may  be  to  others, 
but  he  never  casts  his  'pearls  before  swine.'  He  is  careful  to  find 
those  whom  he  can  truly  benefit,  and  ministers  to  each  one  in  the  way 
he  can  be  of  most  use  to  them.  At  his  beautiful  home  in  Dorchester 
he  has  surrounded  himself  with  treasures  that  symbolize  his  spiritual 
progression  in  his  nature  studies — an  ornithological  library  and  engrav 
ings  of  birds  marking  one  period;  '  precipitated  '  spirit  pictures  another; 
crystals  another,  and  Japanese  ancient  art  objects  another.  Here  are 
gathered  rare  and  beautiful  treasures  from  that  rare  and  beautiful 
country  Japan.  There  are  a  number  of  pieces  .11  his  collection  very 
ancient.  He  has  a  Japanese  garden  outside  his  house  which  contains 
stone  Japanese  lanterns,  an  immense  bronze  eagle  which  is  a  wonderful 
piece  of  Japanese  art,  about  forty  varieties  of  Japanese  maples,  and 
many  other  shrubs  and  plants.  To  these  kindly  and  gifted  people  his 
doors  are  ever  open ;  he  is  Boston's,  and  perhaps  America's,  welcome  to 
Japan.  He  also  published  a  magazine,  'Light  from  the  Far  East/  partly 
in  the  interests  of  the  Japanese.  This  periodical  contained  items  of 
interest  relating  to  the  Japanese,  both  :.n  this  country  and  Japan,  and 
also  presented  Mr.  Wade's  revelations  of  truth." 

The  remarkable  thing  about  Mr.  W;ulc  is  that  up  to  seven  years  ago 
i  iS<)5>  he  had  never  seen  a  native  of  Japan  or  read  any  book  describing- 
Japan  or  the  Japanese;  but  from  his  first  meeting  with  them  he  began 
buying  Japanese  maples  and  other  plants,  and  finally  importing  them 
each  year  in  large  quantities.  He  has  also  spent  a  great  deal  of  money 
in  bnmy.es,  Satsuma's  carvings  and  other  ancient  bric-a-brac  from  Japan. 
His  method  is  to  give  away  his  first  purchases  to  make  room  for  later  and 
rarer  and  costlier  acquisitions,  so  that  he  has  now  one  of  the  finest  private 
collections  in  his  home,  and  a  garden  that  attracts  many  persons  inter 
ested  in  such  things. 

Mr.  Wade's  magazine,  "  Fibre  and  Fabric,"  was  founded  in  March, 
1885.  He  was  formerly  editor  and  publisher  of  "  Familiar  Science  "  and 
"  Fanciers'  Journal,"  and  of  the  "  Ornithologist  and  Oologist,"  and  was 
editor  of  the  Boston  "  Journal  of  Commece  "  and  the  "  Textile  Manu 
facturer  in  Drv  Goods  Bulletin." 


PROMINENT    AMERICANS     INTERESTED    IN     JAPAN.         41 

The  following'  verses  to  Mr.  Wade  were  written  by  Abbie  Walker 
Gould  : 


JAPAN'S  HONORS  TO  JOSEPH  M.  WADE. 


When  on  this  earth  in  ages  past,  thou  wast  reborn, 
It  was  not  cold  North  land  that  met  thine  eyes ; 
But  the  sunny  skies  of  fair  Japan  ; 
Mid  fragrant  flowers  and  blooming  bowers, 
Where  softly  passed  the  summer  hours. 

Mikado  and  the  Mandarin  sought  oft  from  thee  of  mystic  lore ; 
For  the  Gods  had  lent  great  gifts  and  asked  return  of  greater  power ; 
And  as  thou  gave,  in  lettered  gold, 
Upon  the  Temple  shield  where  all  behold 
'Twas  written  thus  to  thee : 
'  The  future  years  in  other  lands  shall  see  the  triumphs  of  a  Mystic's 

victory." 

And  now  behold,  from  far  Japan  the  gift  appears ; 
It  bears  no  hint  upon  its  face  of  missing  years. 
But  -as  no  God  bestows  what  is  not  earned, 
And;  by  the  high  Ideal  in  Soul  that's  burned  ; 
Just: where  you  stand, 
The. gift  you  earned  so  long  ago  in  that  far  land. 


MR.    ISAAC   STIEBEL, 
President  of  the  Japanese   Fan   Company. 


PROMINENT    AMERICANS     INTERESTED    IN    JAPAN.         43 


MR.    ISAAC    STIEBEL. 

Isaac  Stiebel  was  born  in  Baltimore,  Md.,  United  States  of  America, 
in  1844,  being  at  the  present  time  fifty-eight  years  of  age.  He  has  been 
identified  with  the  Japanese  trade  for  the  last  twenty-eight  years,  under 
the  name  of  the  Japanese  Fan  Company.  He  has  always  taken  a  great 
interest  in  the  Japanese,  and  promoted  their  interests  wherever  and 
whenever  possible.  He  visited  Japan  in  1880,  and  acquainted  himself 
thoroughly  with  the  country  and  its  people.  The  business  of  the 
Japanese  Fan  Company  has  always  been  identified  with  that  of  the 
China  &  Japan  Trading  Company,  Limited,  through  whom  all  of  the 
purchases  in  Japan  are  made. 

His  interests  at  home  are  varied.  He  is  connected  with  several 
mercantile  enterprises,  and  also  with  a  bank  of  which  he  is  vice-president, 
as  well  as  with  several  other  financial  institutions. 


A  FAMOUS  WATERFALL. 


Taki  no  oto  wa 

Taete  Hisashiku 

•  » 

Narinuredo 

Na  koso  nagarete 
Nao  kikoe  kere. 

(Dainagon  Kinto.) 

Though  the  waterfall 

In  its  flow  ceased  long  ago, 

And  its  sound  is  stilled; 
Yet,  in  name  it  ever  flows, 
And  in  fame  may  yet  be  heard. 


MR.    CARL    SCHEUER, 
Of  K.  Sugawa  &  Co. 


PROMINENT    AMERICANS     INTERESTED    IN     JAPAN.         45 


MR.  CARL  SCHEUER. 


Mr.  Carl  Schcuer,  who  is  a  member  of  K.  Sugawa  and  Company, 
was  born  at  Worms,  Germany.  After  graduating  from  college,  he  came 
to  America  in  1864.  He  went  to  Kansas  and  Missouri,  where  he  lived 
from  1867  till  1873,  following-  mercantile  and  mining  pursuits.  He 
returned  to  Cincinnati  in  1873,  an(l  represented  one  of  the  largest  manu 
facturing  houses,  travelling  over  the  West  and  South. 

In  1877  he  married  Miss  Hattie  Thurnauer  in  Cincinnati,  Ohio,  the 
daughter  of  Max  Thurnauer,  deceased,  one  of  the  largest  wholesale 
dry  goods  merchants  of  Cincinnati,  who  retired  in  1870  with  a  large 
fortune. 

Mr.  Scheuer  has  four  sons.  Arnold  L.,  Max  G.,  James  T.  and  Percy 
C.  Two  of  them  are  in  the  banking  business  and  two  in  the  mercantile. 
Max  G.  Scheuer  is  now  with  K.  Sugawa  and  Company. 

In  1886  he  moved  to  New  York  and  opened  a  wholesale  house  of 
his  own,  but  as  he  did  not  like  the  business,  he  connected  himself  with 
one  of  the  oldest  and  largest  English  importing  houses,  remaining  with 
the  same  for  ten  years.  By  accident  he  met  Mr.  K.  Sugawa,  of 
Yokohama,  some  four  years  ago,  and  the  two  became  friends,  and  when 
Mr.  Sugawa  returned  from  his  visit  to  Japan  in  the  spring  of  1901,  Mr 
Scheuer  joined  K.  Sugawa  and  Company  August  1st,  1901,  and  opened 
an  office  in  the  Silk  Exchange  Building,  now  having  offices  at  458 
Broadway.  The  business  consists  of  the  general  importing  of  Japanese 
goods  and  the  exporting  of  American  goods  which  the  Japanese  market 
desires. 


PROMINENT    AMERICANS    INTERESTED   IN    JAPAN. 


MR.  JAMES    J.    HILL. 

James  J.  Hill  was  born  in  Guelph,  Upper  Canada,  September  16, 
1838.  He  was  educated  at  Rockwood  Academy,  and  entered  a  steam 
boat  office  in  St.  Paul  in  1856.  He  was  made  agent  of  the  North 
western  Packet  Company  in  1865,  and  later  established  a  general  fuel 
and  transportation  business  on  his  own  account.  He  was  head  of 
Hill,  Griggs  &  Co.,  in  the  same  line  of  business,  from  1869  to  1875  ; 
established  the  Red  River  Transportation  Company  in  1875  5  organized, 
in  1873,  a  syndicate  that  obtained  control  of  the  St.  Paul  &  Pacific 
Railroad  from  the  Dutch  owners  of  the  securities,  and  recorganized  the 
system  as  the  St.  Paul,  Minneapolis  &  Manitoba  Railroad;  was  its 
general  manager  1879-82,  vice-president  1882-83,  and,  since  1883, 
president.  In  1890  it  became  a  part  of  the  Great  Northern  system,  of 
which  he  has  since  been  president. 

The  Great  Northern  Railroad  line  has  connections  with  the  Nippon 
Yusen  Kaishas  line  at  Seattle.  Since  this  line  was  opened  there  has 
been  an  ever-increasing  commerce  between  Puget  Sound  and  the  Far 
East. 


PROVERB  AND  SHORT  POEM. 

Hana  wa  sakura  ni,  hito  wa  bushi.  The  cherry 
is  the  king  of  flowers  and  the  warrior  is  the  king 
of  men. 

Asagao  ni 

Tsurube  lorarete; 
Morai  —  midzu  ! 

"  My  well  bucket  has  been  seized  by  the  morn 
ing  glories  ;  give  me  water  !  "  This  exquisite 
gem  is  a  famous  hokka,  by  the  great  poetess 
Chiyo.  The  hokku,  or  haikai,  is  the  shortest 
and  most  compressed  form  of  poem  in  all  litera 
ture,  and  is  peculiarly  Japanese. 


MR.   JAMES   J.    HILL, 
President  of  the  Great  Northern  Railroad  Company. 


MR.    SILAS    D.    WEBB., 
President  of  {lie  American  Asiatic  Association. 


MR.    JOHN    FOORD, 
Secretary  of  the  American  Asiatic  Association. 


50        PROMINENT    AMERICANS     INTERESTED    IN    JAPAN. 


THE   AMERICAN   ASIATIC   ASSOCIATION. 

The  American  Asiatic  Association  was  formally  organized  at  a 
meeting  held  in  New  York  on  June  9,  1898,  and  its  declared  purpose 
was,  among  other  things,  "  To  foster  and  safeguard  the  trade  and 
commercial  interests  of  the  citizens  of  the  United  States,  and  others 
associated  therewith,  in  the  Empires  of  China,  Japan  and  Korea,  and 
in  the  Philippine  Islands,  and  elsewhere  in  Asia  or  Oceanica."  The 
association  had  its  origin  in  a  conference  of  merchants  and  others 
interested  in  the  maintenance  of  the  commercial  rights  and  privileges 
.possessed  by  the  United  States  in  China,  held  on  January  6,  1898.  This 
conference  was  prompted  by  a  desire  to  bring  to  the  attention  of  the 
Department  of  State  at  Washington  the  probable  effect  on  these  rights 
and  privileges  of  the  movements  of  certain  European  powers  which 
had  recently  occurred  within  the  territory  of  the  Chinese  Empire.  The 
first  representation  on  the  subject  was  made  through  the  medium  of 
the  Chamber  of  Commerce  of  the  State  of  New  York,  and  was  duly 
acknowledged  by  the  then  Secretary  of  State,  Mr.  John  Sherman,  who 
assured  the  Chamber  that  the  matter  was  receiving  the  most  careful 
attention.  The  Chambers  of  Commerce  of  Philadelphia,  Boston,  Cleve 
land  and  San  Francisco  were  also  communicated  with,  and  those  of 
Philadelphia,  Boston  and  San  Francisco  took  action  by  sending  similar 
communications  to  the  President. 

Since  its  organization  the  association  has  addressed  itself,  in  a 
variety  of  ways,  to  the  education  of  public  sentiment  in  the  United 
States  in  regard  to  the  magnitude  of  the  industrial  and  commercial 
interests  involved  in  the  maintenance  of  existing  treaties  with  China. 
By  bringing  about  the  formation  of  the  American  Association  of  China 
and  the  American  Asiatic  Association  of  Japan  it  has  greatly  expanded 
the  representations  and  organization  of  American  interests  in  the  Far 
East.  Its  steadfast  purpose  has  been  to  secure  equality  of  commercial 
opportunity  for  all  in  the  great  markets  of  eastern  Asia,  and  in  its 
championship  of  the  policy  of  the  "  open  door  "  it  has  kept  constantly 
in  view  the  value  and  necessity  of  a  common  understanding  between 
England,  Japan  and  the  United  States.  In  persistently  urging  the 
American  Government  to  oppose  any  movement  or  policy  tending  to 
impair  the  commercial  integrity  of  China,  and  in  repeatedly  protesting 


PROMINENT    AMERICANS     INTERESTED    IN     JAPAN.         SF 

against  the  acknowledgment  of  any  exclusive  right  or  interest  on 
the  part  of  Russia  in  Manchuria,  it  has  been  always  in  line  with  the 
policy  and  interest  of  Japan.  The  diplomatic  representatives  of  Japan 
have  been  among  the  honored  guests  of  the  annual  banquets  of  the 
association,  and  some  of  its  most  prominent  members  took  the  oppor 
tunity  last  June  to  entertain  at  luncheon  the  distinguished  Japanese 
financier,  Baron  Shibusawa.  On  that  occasion  the  toastmaster  expressed 
the  sentiments  of  the  association  by  assuring  the  Baron  that,  in  the 
advance  of  Japan  along  the  path  of  progress,  he  might  always  count 
on  the  friendly  co-operation  of  the  United  States.  The  speaker  went 
on  to  say :  "  Our  association  has  hailed  the  conclusion  of  the  Anglo- 
Japanese  treaty  as  an  effective  guarantee,  no  less  of  the  maintenance  of 
the  open  door  for  commerce  in  the  Far  East  than  of  the  independence 
of  Japan.  The  preservation  of  that  independence  we  regard  as  indispen 
sable  to  the  peaceful  development  of  the  great  communities  of  Eastern 
Asia,  and  anything  that  assails  it  is  as  hostile  to  the  interests  of  our 
country  as  of  yours.  Though  not  formally  a  party  to  the  agreement 
between  Great  Britain  and  Japan,  the  policy  of  which  that  is  the  expres 
sion  is  also  the  policy  of  the  United  States,  and  the  purposes  which  it 
is  intended  to  subserve  are  also  our  purposes." 

The  first  president  of  the  association  was  the  late  Mr.  Everett 
Frazar,  of  Frazar  &  Co.,  a  firm  well  known  in  Japan.  Its  present 
president  is  Mr.  Silas  D.  Webb,  the  head  of  the  China  &  Japan  Trading 
Company,  a  corporation  with  branches  in  Yokohama,  Kobe,  Osaca 
and  Nagasaki.  Mr.  Webb  is  qualified  by  a  long  residence  in  China 
to  be  a  very  competent  judge  of  the  relations  which  ought  to  subsist 
between  that  Empire  and  the  United  States,  and  the  very  large  trade 
done  by  his  company  with  China  and  Japan  renders  him  an  exceptionally 
capable  exponent  of  American  interests  in  the  Far  East. 

The  secretary  of  the  association  is  Mr.  John  Foord,  formerly  editor 
of  the  New  York  "  Times,"  and  at  present  a  member  of  the  editorial 
staff  of  the  "Journal  of  Commerce"  and  "Commercial  Bulletin."  Mr. 
Foord  is  also  the  editor  and  publisher  of  the  monthly  journal  of  the 
association,  which  serves  as  a  medium  of  communication  between  the 
community  engaged  in  Eastern  trade  here  and  that  hav'iig  American 
connections  in  Eastern  Asia. 


The    American    Asiatic    Association. 


OFFICERS. 

President.   SI  LAST).   WEBB,   New    York. 
VICE-PRESIDENTS: 

Lowell  Lincoln,  New  Yo;  k. 

John  H.  Converse,  Philadelphia,  Pa.          John  B.  Cleveland,  Spartanburg,  S.  C. 
Everett  N.  Bee,  San  Francisco,  Cal.  E.  C.  Potter,  Chicago,  111. 

S.  G.  Hopkins,  Washington,  D.  C.  Ellison  A.  Smythe,  Pelzer,  S.  C. 

Treasurer,  Joseph  R.  Patterson,  New  York. 
Secretary,  John  Foord,  P.  O.  Box  1500,  New  York. 

EXECUTIVE   COMMITTEE: 

1903  1904 

Francis  B.  Thurbsr,  New  York.  Clarence  Gary,  New  York. 

Thomas  A.  Phelan,  New  York.  Albert  Cordes,  New  York. 

William   H.   Stevens,   New  York.  Chas.  S.  Gawthrop,  Wilmington,  Del. 

Samuel   Hill,   Minneapolis,   Minn.  James  J.  Hooker,  Cincinnati,  O. 


William  T.  West,  New  York. 
Stephen  W.   Baldwin,    New   York. 
D.  A.  Tompkins.  Charlotte,  N.  C. 
A.  T.   Leftwich,  Baltimore.   M.I. 


The   American    Asiatic   Association  oi    Japan 


OFFICERS. 

N.    E.   Smith.    President. 
T».   C.    Howard.   Vice-President. 
G.    H.   Scidmore,    Secretary. 
W.   L.  Merriman,  Treasurer. 

EXECUTIVE  COMMITTEE: 

T.   W.   Copmann.  E.  S.  Booth. 

G.  W.  Bramhall.  F.  H.  Ziegfi-ld. 

..   H.  Jewett.  D.  II.  Blake. 
E.   \V.  Erizar. 


PROMINENT    AMERICANS     INTERESTED    IN    JAPAN.         53 


MR.  BASIL   H.    BETTS. 

That  the  oldest  life  insurance  company  in  America  should  appoint 
a  special  representative  to  Japan  was  peculiarly  appropriate.  The  first 
feeling  of  friendship  between  the  United  States  and  Japan  began  with 
the  visit  to  Japan  of  Commodore  Perry  of  the  American  Navy.  It  has 
been  abundantly  proved  ever  since  that  memorable  voyage  that  its  results 
are  appreciated,  by  the  increasing  friendship  and  ever-widening  commer 
cial  relations  of  the  two  countries. 

It  was  in  1853  tnat  tne  guns  of  Commodore  Perry's  squadron  thun 
dered  their  salute  to  the  Japanese  Empire.  Just  ten  years  earlier  the 
Mutual  Life  Insurance  Company  of  New  York,  the  pioneer  of  such 
organizations  in  the  United  States  and  the  largest  in  the  world,  was 
founded.  To-day,  although  the  two  events  are  in  no  way  correlated,  the 
fact  that  the  latter  is  establishing  a  permanent  representation  in  the 
former  is  of  interest,  if  only  as  a  further  evidence  of  the  closer  union  into 
which  the  two  nations  are  being  steadily  drawn. 

The  man  whom  the  Mutual  Life  has  appointed  to  represent  it  in  the 
Far  East — Basil  H.  Betts — is  well  qualified  for  his  mission.  He  has 
travelled  extensively  in  Japan  and  China,  and  possesses  the  personal 
acquaintance  of  many  prominent  Japanese.  He  is  comparatively  a  young 
man,  being  still  under  forty,  and  the  reputation  which  he  has  acquired 
for  business  acumen,  integrity  and  intelligence  assures  him  success  in 
his  new  field. 

It  is  not  necessary  that  a  history  should  be  given  here  of  the  company 
which  Mr.  Betts  goes  to  represent,  but  a  few  facts  will  be  interesting  as 
showing  the  importance  of  the  position  which  he  has  been  selected  to  fill. 
The  Mutual  Life  Insurance  Company  of  New  York  is  not  only  the. oldest 
life  .insurance  company  .in  the  United  States ;  it  is  the  largest  in  the  world. 
Its  funds  amount  to  more  than  $380,000,000 — the  largest  accumulation 
of  trust  funds  in  the  world.  It  has  three  times  the  combined  capital  of 
the  Banks  of  England,  France,  and  Germany,  and  its  assets  exceed  the 
total  national  bank  circulation  of  the  United  States  by  many  millions. 
The  assets  of  the  company  are  also  more  than  two  and  a  half  times  the 
value  of  all  the  gold  and  silver  coined  in  the  United  States  in  1901,  a  year 
of  abnormally  large  coinage  on  account  of  the  great  output  of  gold  from 


MR.    BASIL   H.    BETTS, 

General  Manager  for  the  East  for  the  Mutual  Life  Insurance  Company, 

of  New  York. 


PROMINENT    AMERICANS     INTERESTED    IN     JAPAN.         55 

Alaska.  During  the  sixty  years  of  its  existence  the  company  has  paid 
to  its  policy  holders  over  $590,000,000,  which  is  larger  than  the  amount 
paid  by  any  other  company  in  existence.  Its  present  annual  income 
exceeds  $70,000,000,  and  the  total  amount  of  its  insurance  in  force 
exceeds  $1,300,000,000,  and  is  increasing  at  a  rate  of  over  $100,000,000 
annually. 

Figures,  though  proverbially  truthful,  are  as  proverbially  dull,  yet 
in  no  other  way  is  it  possible  to  describe  financial  operations.  To  say,  for 
instance,  that  the  largest  life  insurance  policy  ever  paid  was  paid  during 
the  present  year,  would  be  quite  without  interest  were  the  figures  of 
the  amount  omitted.  When  it  is  added  that  the  policy  was  for  a  million 
dollars,  substance  is  given  to  the  bald  statement,  and  both  substance  and 
color  are  found  in  the  further  fact  that  the  policy  was  taken  out  in  the 
company  which  Mr.  Betts  will  represent  in  Japan. 

The  story  of  this  policy  is  also  not  without  its  own  incidental  interest. 
Mr.  Frank  Hutchinson  Peavey,  a  well  known  grain  merchant  of  Minne 
apolis,  Minn.,  determined  to  take  out  $1,000,000  of  insurance  on  his 
life.  Before  deciding  with  what  company  to  place  the  policy  he  engaged 
an  agent  to  make  a  thorough  investigation  of  the  conditions,  advantages, 
and  policies  of  all  the  principal  companies  doing  business  in  the  country. 
He  selected  the  Mutual  Life,  and  in  a  communication  announcing  the 
fact,  said :  "You  will  be  glad  to  know  that  my  decision  was  made  after 
a  thorough  investigation  of  six  months  by  competent  authorities."  "My 
object"  (he  said  further)  "is  to  lend  strength  and  to  give  courage  to  my 
young  partners,  who  are  my  sons,  in  case  of  my  accidental  death." 

Within  two  years  from  the  issue  of  the  policy  Mr.  Peavey  died  of 
pneumonia,  and  the  claim  was  paid  by  the  Mutual  Life  Insurance  Com 
pany  with  a  check  for  a  million  dollars.  So  large  are  the  resources  of 
this  company  that  this  risk  was  written  at  no  more  proportionate  risk 
than  a  policy  for  $1,000.  It  may  be  mentioned  incidentally  in  this 
connection  that  the  only  other  million-dollar  policy  ever  issued  was  by 
the  same  company  to  Mr.  George  W.  Vanderbilt. 

The  largest  premium  ever  paid  on  a  life  policy  was  also  paid  during 
the  present  year,  and  as  in  the  case  of  the  largest  policy,  the  Mutual  Life 
Insurance  Company  of  New  York  was  the  company  with  which  the 
transaction  took  place.  Mr.  Eben  Smith,  of  Denver,  Col.,  sent  his  check 
in  August  last  to  the  agent  of  the  company  for  $349,621.78,  in  payment 
of  the  premium  on  holdings  of  about  $600,000.  In  a  letter  accompanying 


56          PROMINENT    AMERICANS     INTERESTED    IN     JAPAN. 

the  check  Mr.  Smith  wrote :  "This,  I  understand,  is  the  largest  premium 
ever  paid  in  the  world  on  one  policy." 

There  was  a  third  event — or  perhaps  "incident"  would  better  describe 
the  last  of  the  three — which  has  made  the  present  year  a  more  than 
usually  interesting  one  from  the  point  of  view  of  life  insurance.  This 
other  incident  was  the  tribute  paid  to  the  company  of  which  Mr.  Betts 
will  be  the  Japanese  representative,  by  one  of  the  most  successful  bankers 
of  New  York,  a  man  who  was  for  more  than  thirty  years  the  president 
of  one  of  the  national  banks  of  the  city,  and  twice  president  of  the  New 
York  Clearing  House  Association.  In  his  will  this  banker,  in  limiting 
his  executors,  restricted  them  in  investing  his  estate,  left  in  trust  for 
his  wife  and  children,  to  such  securities  as  were  on  the  list  of  the  Mutual 
Life  Insurance  Company's  investments.  Considering  that  the  banker 
had  no  connection  with  the  Mutual  Life  Insurance  Company,  no  higher 
compliment  to  the  latter's  business  methods  and  soundness  could  have 
been  paid  than  this. 

Enough  has  already  been  said  to  show  the  importance  of  the  post  to 
which  Mr.  Betts  has  been  appointed,  and  the  responsibilities  which  will 
be  his  to  discharge  in  his  new  field.  Mr.  Betts  has  for  his  assistant  Mr. 
N.  Amenomori,  and  the  main  office  for  Japan  is  at  No.  14,  Bund,  Yoko 
hama.  It  is  suggested  that  those  who  may  take  an  interest  in  this  brief 
outline  of  the  company  should  write  to  the  above  address  and  secure 
a  copy  of  the  prospectus  of  the  company,  which  has  been  recently  printed 
in  the  Japanese  language. 


Yufudachi  ya 

Ta  wo  mi-meguri  no 
Kami  naraba. 

If  the   summer  shower 

Would  but  round  the  rice  fields  go 

As  it  were  a  gocl ! 


PROMINENT    AMERICANS     INTERESTED    IN     JAPAN.        57 

MR.  JOHN   T.  HAMILTON  AND  THE  EQUITABLE 

LIFE  ASSURANCE  SOCIETY  OF  THE 

UNITED    STATES. 

The  Equitable  Life  Assurance  Society  of  the  United  States  was 
organized  on  the  26th  of  July,  1859,  and  the  results  of  its  management 
during  the  forty-two  years  of  its  history  are  matters  of  public  record. 

Its  business  is  conducted  on  the  "mutual  plan."  under  which  the 
profits  are  accumulated  for  the  protection  and  benefit  of  the  policyholders 
exclusively ;  and  the  dividends  declared  from  these  profits  are  paid  to 
policyholders  and  to  policyholders  only.  But  the  Equitable  is  a  mutual 
company  in  a  still  broader  sense,  for  by  its  reforms  (and  by  successful 
measures  taken  by  it  to  increase  the  value  and  efficiency  of  life  assurance) 
it  has  not  only  advanced  the  interests  of  its  own  policyholders,  but  has 
made  possible  the  present  popularity  of  life  assurance  in  general. 

That  these  methods  have  been  appreciated  is  shown  by  the  fact  that 
during  the  forty-two  years  of  its  history  the  Equitable  has  achieved 
greater  results  than  any  other  company  during  a  similar  period. 

Brief  History  of   the  Society's  Growth. 

The  foundations  of  the  Equitable  Society  were  firmly  and  broadly 
laid :  at  the  same  time  its  beginning  was  characterized  by  judicious  mod 
eration  and  strict  economy.  The  Society's  first  office  was  a  single  room. 
Henry  Baldwin  Hyde,  the  founder  of  the  Society,  was  in  the  beginning 
its  sole  business  manager,  and  George  W.  Phillips,  the  first  Actuary,  kept 
the  books  and  attended  to  all  correspondence.  At  the  close  of  the  year 
1859,  the  Society  had  assurance  in  force  of  $1,144,000,  and  assets  of  $117,- 
102.39. 

The  strength  of  the  organization  and  the  character  of  its  management 
were  tested  at  an  early  date.  The  Civil  War  broke  out  when  the  Society 
was  less  than  two  years  old,  and  in  1866  the  Asiatic  cholera  made  its 
appearance  in  the  United  States,  and  spread  as  far  west  as  Missouri. 

But  the  advance  of  the  Society  was  not  checked,  and  in  1867  the 
increase  in  the  Society's  business  prompted  the  directors  to  invest  in  land 
upon  which  to  erect  a  building,  and  in  1870  the  business  of  the  Society 
was  transferred  to  its  own  building  at  No.  120  Broadway. 


MR.  JOHN   T.   HAMILTON, 

General  Manager  for  the  East  for  the  Equitable  Life  Assurance  Society 
of  the  United  States. 


PROMINENT    AMERICANS    INTERESTED   IN    JAPAN.        59 

Two  years  prior  to  this  the  Society  had  devised  a  new  form  of  policy 
under  which  only  those  who  keep  their  policies  in  force  for  a  stated  period 
participate  in  profits.  It  was  agreed  that  those  who  died  before  the 
arrival  of  the  dividend  period  should  receive  the  full  amount  of  the 
assurance,  but  without  profits ;  while  those  who  lived  and  continued  their 
policies  should  receive  not  only  their  full  share  of  profits,  but  could  also, 
if  desired,  withdraw  the  full  cash  reserve  on  their  policies.  This  reform 
so  stimulated  business  that  at  the  end  of  the  year  1870  (the  year  in  which 
the  Society  moved  into  its  new  building)  its  assurance  in  force  amounted 
to  $143,970,984,  and  its  surplus  to  $408,434. 

In  1873  the  Society  was  subjected  to  another  test,  for  one  of  the 
severest  panics  ever  experienced  in  the  United  States  was  then  encoun 
tered.  In  reference  to  this,  the  President,  in  his  report  to  the  directors, 
said : 

"  The  recent  convulsion,  while  not  without  its  temporary  embarrass 
ments,  has  served  to  demonstrate  the  security  of  a  properly  managed  life 
assurance  society  as  a  depository  for  savings,  both  for  the  rich  and  for  the 
poor.  .  .  .  The  directors  of  the  Equitable  may  justly  feel  satisfaction 
that  in  the  midst  of  one  of  the  most  trying  emergencies  which  has  ever 
threatened  the  stability  of  American  commerce  and  industry,  our  Society 
stands  as  a  mighty  rock  in  the  midst  of  an  angry  sea,  the  bulwark  and 
support  of  those  who  cling  to  it. 

"  But,"  he  added,  "  this  business  cannot  be  conducted  without  the 
exercise  of  the  greatest  skill  and  caution."  To  which  the  Hon.  O.  W. 
Chapman,  then  Superintendent  of  the  New  York  State  Insurance  Depart 
ment,  added : 

"  No  matter  how  the  subject  be  broached,  that  word  '  management ' 
is  the  keystone  to  the  arch." 

Hence  it  is  that  in  this  brief  review  attention  is  directed  especially  to 
the  crucial  tests  to  which  the  Equitable  Society  has  been  subjected  from 
time  to  time. 

The  panic  of  1873  and  the  succeeding  five  years  of  commercial 
depression  were  successfully  weathered,  and  the  Society's  business  con 
tinued  to  increase. 

In  1889  the  President,  commenting  on  the  Society's  Thirtieth  Anni 
versary,  said : 

"  Thirty  years  ago  we  had  upwards  of  six  hundred  thousand  dollars 
of  assurance  in  force;  to-day  we  have  upwards  of  six  hundred  millions. 


60        PROMINENT    AMERICANS     INTERESTED    IN    JAPAN. 

"  Thirty  years  ago  we  had  upwards  of  one  hundred  thousand  dollars 
of  assets ;  to-day  we  hold  upwards  of  one  hundred  millions. 

'  Then  we  had  little  or  no  surplus ;  now  we  have  between  twenty  and 
twenty-five  millions. 

'  The  Equitable  has  succeeded  because :  under  a  united  and  contin 
uous  management,  it  has  sought  to  give  its  policyholders  the  best  assur 
ance  possible.  It  has  consequently  sought : 

"  (i)  To  give  the  utmost  security. 

"  (2)  To  offer  the  largest  benefits. 

"  (3)  To  sweep  aside  every  cumbersome  restriction. 

"  It  is  therefore  known  as  the  originator  of  every  important  improve 
ment  in  the  business,  and  is  preeminently  noted  for  devising  the  only 
system  erf  assurance  under  which  a  full  share  of  surplus  is  given  to 
surviving  policyholders.'' 

The  Society  passed  through  the  next  panic,  that  of  1893,  with  the 
same  success  that  characterized  its  management  during  the  former 
periods  of  financial  disturbance,  and  made  such  great  progress  that  on 
the  26th  of  July,  1899,  the  following  announcement  was  made  : 

An  Unparalleled  Record. 

On  its  Fortieth  Anniversary,  July  26th,  1899,  the  Equitable  Life 
Assurance  Society  of  the  United  States  has  on  its  books  outstanding 
assurance  for  over  a  billion  dollars,  which  is  twice  the  amount  accumu 
lated  by  any  other  company  in  the  world  during  a  similar  period  of  its 
history.  Its  assets  amount  to  over  $270,000,000,  which  is  more  than 
twice  the  amount  held  by  any  other  company  in  the  world  on  its  fortieth 
anniversary.  Its  surplus  amounts  to  over  $60,000,000,  which  is  also  more 
than  twice  the  amount  held  by  any  other  company  at  the  end  of  its  fortieth 
year. 

In  the  short  period  that  has  since  intervened,  the  Society  has  made 
still  greater  progress,  and  largely  increased  the  above  items,  as  shown  by 
.he  following  table: 


PROMINENT    AMERICANS     INTERESTED    IN     JAPAN.        61 

The  Society's  Growth  Since  Its  Fortieth  Anniversary  in  J899,  Showing 
the  Position  Attained  December  3f,  J902. 

Outstanding  Assurance $1,290,000,000 

Increase    290,000,000 


Assets    360,000,000 

Increase    90,000,000 


Surplus    75,000,000 

Increase    15,000,000 

The  officers  and  directors  of  the  Equitable  are  men  of  the  highest 
status  in  their  own  business  and  in  affairs  generally  in  the  United  States, 
and  are  as  follows : 

President,  James  \V.  Alexander;  vice-president,  James  H.  Hyde;  second 
vice-president,  Gage  E.  Tarbell;  third  vice-president,  George  T.  Wilson;  fourth 
vice-president,  William  H.  Mclntyrc;  registrar,  James  B.  Loring;  comptroller, 
Thomas  D.  Jordan;  treasurer,  Sidney  D.  Ripley;  actuary,  Joel  G.  Van  Cise; 
secretary,  William  Alexander;  auditor,  ¥.  W.  Jackson;  associate  auditor,  A.  W. 
Maine;  assistant  auditor,  H.  R.  Coursen;  medical  director,  Edward  W.  Lambert, 
M.  D.;  medical  director,  Edward  Curtis.  M.  D.  Board  of  directors:  James  W. 
Alexander,  Louis  Fitzgerald,  Chauncey  M.  Dcpew,  William  A.  Wheelock.  Cor 
nelius  N.  Bliss,  George  H.  Squire,  Thomas  D.  Jordan,  Charles  S.  Smith.  V.  P. 
Snyder.  Edward  W.  Lambert.  William  Alexander.  John  J.  McCook,  C.  Ledyard 
Blair,  Brayton  Ives,  Melville  E.  Ingalls,  Joseph  T.  Low.  James  H.  Hyde,  John 
A.  Stewart.  Jacob  H.  Schiff.  A.  J.  Cassat  James  J.  Hill,  T.  Jefferson  Coolidge, 
John  Jacob  Astor.  Sir  William  C.  Van  Home,  Gage  E.  Tarbell,  Marvin  Hughitt, 

C.  B.  Alexander.  T.  De  Witt  Cuyler.  Henry  C.  Frick,  M.  Hartley  Dodge,  Sidney 

D.  Ripley.  J.    F.   de   Navarro.   E.   H.    Harriman.   Alfred   G.   Vanderbilt,    Levi   P. 
Morton,  August  Belmont,  William  A.  Tower,   D.   O.   Mills.   Robert  T.   Lincoln, 
George  J.  Gould.  John  Sloane.  William  H.  Mclntyrc,  'J  hernias  T.  Eckert,  H.  M. 
Alexander,   Samuel   M.   Inman,   George   T.   Wilson.   H.   C.   Haarstick,   David   H. 
Moffat,  William  H.  Baldwin.  Jr..  B  radish  Johnson,  H.  C.  Demiug  and  James  B. 
Forgan. 

The  Equitable  has  been  doing  business  in  Japan  with  marked  success 
for  several  years.  Its  General  Manager  for  the  East  is  Mr.  John  T. 
Hamilton,  No.  10,  The  Bund,  Yokohama. 


PROMINENT  JAPANESE 


:IN= 


AMERICA 


HON.    KOGORO    TAKAHIRA. 
Japanese  Minister  at  Washington. 


PROMINENT    JAPANESE    IN    AMERICA.  65 

THE    HONORABLE    KOGORO   TAKAHIRA,    JAPA 
NESE  MINISTER  AT  WASHINGTON. 

The  Japanese  Minister  at  Washington,  the  Honorable  Kogoro 
Takahira,  is  a  fine  example  of  a  diplomat  and  gentleman  of  the  Far 
East.  He  has  been  in  the  Imperial  diplomatic  service  since  1876,  and 
has  had  a  most  successful  and  distinguished  career.  In  his  twenty- 
seven  years  of  service  he  has  held  posts  of  high  honor  in  China,  Korea, 
Holland,  Italy,  Austria  and  the  United  States.  His  experience  embraces 
all  of  the  varied  changes  in  Japanese  history  in  recent  times.  He  is 
old  enough  to  have  known  and  to  have  felt  keenly  and  deeply  the 
ancient  feudal  life  of  Samurai  and  Shogun ;  was  a  youth  when  Japan 
abandoned  the  old  order  and  set  her  face  toward  a  new  sun  rise,  and 
he  has  grown  and  developed  with  his  new  national  life. 

Every  prominent  man  of  the  East,  at  least  of  China  and  Japan, 
must  needs  be  a  man  of  intelligence  and  education.  In  no  country 
of  Europe  or  the  Americas  can  the  public  men  compare  in  intellectuality 
and  culture  with  the  leading  men  in  China  and  Japan.  Not  even  in 
the  Greece  of  Pericles  did  the  public  men  possess  the  culture  and 
training  of  the  political  leaders  of  these  two  countries  of  the  Ear  East. 
Of  these  men  Minister  Takahira  is  at  once  a  type  and  a  brilliant 
example.  He  is  learned  in  Chinese  philosophy  and  language,  the 
most  difficult  field  of  all  scholarship.  He  speaks  and  writes  fluently  in 
several  European  languages,  and  he  is  a  thorough  scholar  in  the  vast 
and  intricate  literature  of  his  own  country. 

He  has  risen  rapidly  in  the  diplomatic  service.  After  completing 
his  education  in  Tokyo,  he  entered  the  foreign  service  in  1876.  In  1879 
he  was  appointed  attache  to  the  Japanese  Legation  in  Washington, 
and  became  secretary  of  that  legation  in  1881.  He  became  Secretary 
of  the  Foreign  Office  in  1883.  He  was  made  Charge  d' Affaires  in 
Korea  in  1885;  Acting  Consul-General  at  Shanghai  in  1887;  chief  o' 
political  bureau  of  the  Foreign  Office  in  1890;  Consul-General  at  Ne\\ 
York  in  1891;  Minister  Resident  to  Holland  in  1892;  Envoy  Extraor 
dinary  and  Minister  Plenipotentiary  to  Italy  in  1894;  Envoy  Extraor 
dinary  and  Minister  Plenipotentiary  to  Austria  in  1896;  Vice-Minister 


66  PROMINENT   JAPANESE    IN    AMERICA. 

for  Foreign  Affairs  in  1899,  an(^  'ls  now  Envoy  Extraordinary  and 
Minister  Plenipotentiary  to  the  United  States,  to  which  post  he  was 
appointed  in  1900. 

In  an  address  in  the  city  of  New  York  in  1901  Mr.  Takahira  said, 
referring  frankly  to  the  object  of  Japanese  diplomacy : 

"  We  want  the  power  that  flows  from  a  great  trade  and  a  great 
prosperity  at  home.  The  efforts  now  making  by  Japan  to  increase 
the  commerce  between  herself  and  the  United  States  and  the  rest  of  the 
world  are,  in  themselves,  a  guarantee  of  long  peace.  The  two  countries 
are  seeking  the  same  object,  but  each  can  obtain  it  best  and  quickest 
through  the  peaceful  competition  of  trade,  which  will  bring  about  closer 
relations  of  friendship  and  commercial  interests  between  the  two  peoples." 

As  to  possible  rivalry  between  the  United  States  and  Japan,  he 
said: 

"  Each  country  offers  to  the  other  an  extensive  field  for  trade 
development.  We  have  much  that  we.  can  sell  to  America;  you  have 
much  that  we  want  to  buy.  It  is  for  these  reasons  that  we  have  been 
able  to  watch  without  feeling  or  envy  or  jealousy  the  marvelous  growth 
of  your  country.  We  have  felt,  also,  that  Japan  is  a  young  nation, 
that  the  transformation  accomplished  within  the  last  few  years  has 
given  us  a  new  birth  among  the  peoples  of  the  world.  We  start  fairly 
with  the  United  States,  then,  in  this  friendly  rivalry  for  the  trade  of 
the  Pacific. 

"  My  idea  for  Japan,  as  to  the  position  she  should  take  in  regard 
to  her  affairs,  is  to  do  with  the  whole  heart  all  that  he  is  able  to  do, 
if  she  thinks  it  just  and  proper,  and  to  leave  the  result  to  the  judgment 
or  criticism  of  others,  thus  deriving  the  means  of  further  improvement 
from  such  judgment  or  criticism.  It  is  not  my  intention  to  say  anything 
about  Japan  in  the  way  of  self-assertion ;  but,  in  regard  to  our  endeavors 
for  progress  in  modern  civilization,  I  must  say  that  we  have  been  always 
earnest,  honest  and  sincere,  and  there  has  not  been  a  bit  of  humbug 
in  the  search  and  adoption  of  any  thing,  either  administrative,  educa 
tional,  financial  or  judicial,  that  can  be  found  effective  to  improve 
morally  and  materially  the  condition  of  the  country  after  the  American 
or  European  model." 

His  views  on  this  subject  were  afterward  expressed  much  more 
freely  in  an  article  which  was  published  in  "  Japan  and  America."  From 
that  article  the  following  quotations  are  made : 

"  Japan   feels   very   near   to   the    United    Slates.       This   feeling   of 


PROMINENT   JAPANESE    IN    AMERICA.  67 

friendliness  began  with  the  visit  of  Commodore  Perry  to  our  shores, 
which  let  in  a  great  flood  of  new  light  from  the  West,  and  it  has 
increased  as  American  ingenuity  has  shortened  the  distance,  measured 
in  hours  of  travel,  between  the  two  countries.  It  has  .also  been  very 
greatly  increased  and  deepened,  I  am  sure,  by  the  association  of  the 
armies  of  the  Empire  and  of  the  Republic  in  the  movement  to  safeguard 
the  highest  interests  of  civilization  in  the  East.  This  association  re 
vealed,  in  a  striking  way,  the 'fact  that  the  United  States  is  now  an 
Eastern  power,  and  that  the  interests  of  America  are  very  closely  related 
to  those  of  Japan.  It  was  the  beginning,  I  believe,  of  a  new  impulse  in 
the  development  of  a  far  greater  trade  in  the  Pacific  and  of  warmer 
feelings  of  friendship. 

"  Japan  especially  welcomes  this  prospect.  I  do  not  believe  that 
any  country  has  shown  a  more  earnest  desire  for  the  improvement  of 
commercial  relations  with  other  countries  than  has  Japan.  While  we 
have  shown  this  desire  with  respect  to  all  countries  alike,  we  have  been 
particularly  anxious  to  better  our  relations  with  the  United  States. 
I  shall  give  some  specific  reasons  for  this  further  on,  but  shall  say 
here  that  Japan  feels  more  and  more  convinced  that,  for  trade,  she 
must  eventually  look  to  the  shores  of  the  Pacific,  and  that  the  greatest 
of  waters  must  be  dominated  in  the  near  future  by  the  merchant  vessels 
of  the  Empire  and  of  the  United  States. 

"We  have  witnessed,  without  envy  or  jealousy,  the  swift  growth 
of  our  young  rival  across  the  Pacific.  We  felt  that  it  was  to  be  for 
all  time  a  rivalry  of  friends,  an  amicable  and  good-natured  competition 
for  trade.  There  is  room  enough  for  both  countries  to  exploit  them 
selves.  There  is  trade  enough  for  both ;  and,  while  there  must  in 
evitably  be  sharp  competition  in  certain  fields  of  commerce,  the  presence 
and  labors  of  each  will  aid  the  other.  If  America  develops  the  Phil 
ippines  and  Hawaii,  Japan  will  be  benefited  to  a  large  extent.  If 
Japan,  on  the  other  hand,  more  extensively  opens  up  Formosa  and 
other  parts  of  the  Empire  to  trade,  the  United  States  must  reap  their 
share  of  the  harvest.  Both,  it  is  clear,  must  benefit  by  the  development 
of  China,  for  which  both  are  now  striving. 

'  The  Japanese  are  greatly  in  tavor  of  American  products  and  ideas. 
We  want  the  latest  mechanical  devices,  the  most  advanced  theories  and 
principles  of  industry  and  manufacture,  and  we  feel  that  we  can  get 
them  from  America.  This  was  not  true  a  few  years  ago,  when  the 


68  PROMINENT    JAPANESE    IN    AMERICA. 

United  States  were  not  so  far  advanced  as  they  are  to-day,  and  Japan 
looked  mainly  to  Europe  for  Western  ideas  and  Western  trade.  We 
have  now  begun  to  look  across  the  Pacific. 

'  The  United  States  has  recently  taken  important  steps  toward  the 
development  of  commerce  in  the  Pacific.  I  refer  principally  to  the 
acquisition  of  Hawaii  and  the  Philippines.  The  conduct  of  the  Ameri 
cans  in  China,  and  the  general  attitude  of  the  American  Government 
and  people  will  also,  no  doubt,  have  fruitful  results  when  the  Chinese 
Empire  is  finally  opened  to  the  commerce  and  trade  of  the  world.  But 
the  result  in  the  Philippines  and  in  Hawaii  will,  of  course,  be  seen 
sooner  and  will  be  felt  more  directly.  Prior  to  the  occupation  of  the 
Philippines  by  the  United  States  there  was  little  or  no  trade  with  the 
islands  and  Japan.  Either  insurrection  was  in  progress  or  threatened, 
and  no  efficient  effort  could  be  made  to  develop  trade,  even  in  times 
of  peace.  The  Americans  are  changing  all  that.  They  are  restoring 
order,  and  trade  is  springing  up.  The  Philippine  archipelago  will  some 
day  be  very  important  in  a  commercial  sense.  Its  agricultural,  mineral 
and  timber  resources  are  excellent,  and  only  need  encouragement  and 
continued  peace  and  good  order  to  be  profitably  exploited. 

'  The  commercial  interests  of  the  Empire  and  the  Republic  pre 
so  closely  related  that,  if  properly  iostered,  they  will  insure  a  fuller  and 
more  friendly  intercourse  between  the  two  countries." 


FILIAL   LOVE. 

Kimi  ga  tame 

Haru  no  no  ni  idete 
Wakana  tsumu 

Waga  Koromode  ni 
Yuki  wa  furi-tsu  tsu. 
(Koko  Tenno.) 

It  is  for  thy  sake 
That  I  seek  the  fields  in  spring 

Gathering  green  herbs, 

While  my  garment's  hanging  sleeves 
Are  with  falling  snow  beflecked. 


PROMINENT    JAPANESE    IN    AMERICA.  69 


DR.  JOKICHI  TAKAMINE. 

Dr.  Jokichi  Takamine  was  born  in  November  5th  of  Kayei  (1852), 
at  Kanazawa,  Kaga  Province,  Japan.  At  the  age  of  12  he  was  selected, 
and  sent  to  Nagasaki  to  study  there,  by  order  of  the  provincial  authority 
under  the  feudal  government.  He  afterward  entered  the  Osaka  Medical 
School.  In  8th  of  Meiji  (1875),  he  began  to  study  applied  chemistry  in 
the  engineering  department  of  the  Tokyo  University,  graduating  from 
the  institution  three  years  after.  In  the  following  year  he  was  ordered 
by  the  government  to  study  in  England.  In  the  spring  of  I4th,  Meiji 
(1881),  he  returned  to  Japan  via  America,  attached  as  an  engineer  to  the 
Agricultural  and  Commercial  Department,  and  engaged  in  special  inves 
tigations  in  chemical  technichology,  especially  in  sake  brewing  and 
indigo  manufacturing. 

In  1884  he  was  appointed  as  Japanese  representative  in  the  New 
Orleans  World's  Fair,  dispatched  to  America,  and  made  an  especial  study 
of  artificial  fertilizing.  He  returned  with  a  view  to  advance  his  own 
country's  agricultural  enterprise,  and  carried  with  him  the  necessary 
materials  for  the  purpose.  The  artificial  fertilizer  he  had  brought  home 
was  distributed  among  the  farming  districts  by  the  Agricultural  and 
Commercial  Department,  and  tested  with  a  successful  result.  The 
prospect  of  manufacturing  this  important  ingredient  for  farming  purposes 
was  at  once  seen  ;  he  resigned  the  governmental  position  and  entered  with 
Yeiji  Shibusawa  (now  a  baron)  and  Takashi  Masuda  into  a  movement 
for  establishing  a  manufactory. 

The  Tokyo  Artificial  Fertilizer  Company  resulted.  Dr.  Takamine 
again  went  abroad  in  1885  to  purchase  machinery  for  the  company,  and, 
incidentally,  studied  the  brewing  methods  of  Europe  and  America.  The 
idea  of  introducing  the  Japanese  brewing  method  into  theirs  occurred 
to  him,  and,  with  this  in  view,  he  obtained  patents  for  the  sake  brewing 
from  the  governments  of  Europe  and  America.  He  returned  to  Japan 
and  devoted  himself  to  the  artificial  fertilizer  work. 

In  1890  Dr.  Takamine,  on  request  of  his  American  friends  to  come 
and  conduct  experiments  on  the  brewing  in  their  country,  came  to 
America.  His  experiments  proved  successful.  Whereupon,  he  made 
further  investigations,  which  resulted  in  the  discovery  of  the  process  of 


DR.    JOKICHI    TAKAMINE. 


PROMINENT   JAPANESE    IN    AMERICA.  71 

obtaining  ferment,  the  indispensable  element  in  brewing,  from  the  wheat 
bran  waste.  Heretofore  malt  was  chiefly  used  for  ferment  in  Europe 
and  America,  and  Koji  in  Japan.  But  this  newly  discovered  ferment 
has  more  strength  than  either  of  them.  It  was  desirable  to  produce  this 
new  ferment  in  a  large  quantity  and  to  distribute  it.  The  Takamine 
Ferment  Company  was  established,  to  which  he  was  elected  president. 

The  Takamine  Ferment  Company  entered  into  a  contract  with  the 
Whisky  Trust,  and  after  a  series  of  experiments  with  the  new  ferment, 
finally  succeeded  in  producing  a  large  quantity  of  liquor  daily.  Where 
upon,  the  malt  manufacturers  of  the  country  began  to  fear  because  of 
the  prospect  of  the  new  discovery,  which  may  at  the  end  render  the  old 
ferment  useless.  They  bitterly  criticized  Dr.  Takamine,  and  tried 
indirectly  to  prevent  his  further  success.  But  the  patience  and  earnest 
ness  of  this  Japanese  scientist  pressed  him  forward  in  spite  of  the 
difficulty.  Misfortune  was,  however,  waiting  him ;  the  Ferment  Com 
pany  was  completely  destroyed  by  fire,  and,  to  add  to  the  misfortunes, 
the  malt  manufacturers,  who  were  strongly  prejudiced  against  him,  took 
the  opportunity  to  spread  the  report  that  he  had  himself  fired  the  factory 
building  for  the  purpose  of  hiding  the  traces  of  his  unsuccessful  attempts 
at  brewing. 

%  Despite  of  such  difficulties  the  Ferment  Company  was  soon  started 
again,  and  its  work  was  slowly  progressing,  when  a  new  trouble  arose, 
which  resulted  in  the  permanent  dissolution  of  the  company.  The  trouble 
came  this  time  from  the  Whisky  Trust  Company,  in  which  disagreements 
as  to  the  control  of  the  brewing  work  began  to  appear.  Dr.  Takamine 
was  obliged  to  sever  his  connection  with  the  Trust  Company.  But  he 
was  still  bound  to  it  by  the  terms  of  the  contract  previously  entered  into, 
and  could  not  undertake  an  independent  work.  He  finally  instituted  a 
suit  against  the  "  trust,"  and  recovered  his  right  to  the  discovery.  But 
owing  to  the  predominating  influence  of  the  Trust  Company,  he  could 
not  persuade  enough  to  assist  him  in  instituting  a  new  company.  He 
abandoned  the  ferment  work. 

Dr.  Takamine  had  never  known  despair ;  for  there  is  always  open  a 
new  field  in  the  mind  of  a  profound  student  of  nature,  such  as  he  is,  for 
investigations.  He  continued  his  studies  in  analytical  chemistry,  and 
was  rewarded  by  the  discovery  in  which  he  succeeded  in  isolating  what  is 
now  called  "  Taka-Diastase,"  from  certain  ingredients  in  germinating 
grain. 


72  PROMINENT    JAPANESE    IN    AMERICA. 

The  Taka-Diastase  is  now  extensively  used  for  amylaceous  dys 
pepsia,  and  is  obtained  principally  from  koji,  the  Japanese  ferment.  It 
became  an  indispensable  article  of  the  medical  men  of  the  world,  and  is 
patented  in  many  countries. 

Another  discovery,  and  perhaps  one  of  the  most  important  of  modern 
times,  is  the  isolation  of  the  active  principle  of  the  suprarenal  gland 
known  as  adrenalin.  This  discovery  had  long  been  sought  for  by  the 
scientists  of  Europe  and  America,  but  without  result.  The  announce 
ment  of  the  discovery  in  1901  by  the  Japanese  chemist  was  therefore  very 
warmly  received  by  the  scientific  world.  This  new  drug  has  a  marvel 
lous  power  on  the  blood  vessels,  increasing  their  blood  pressure,  and  is 
an  indispensable  agency  in  performing  surgery  operations.  It  is  also 
a  most  expensive  drug.  It  is  described  by  the  discoverer  himself  as: 

"  Adrenalin  is  a  light,  white,  micro-crystalline  body,  showing  itself 
in  five  or  more  different  forms.  It  has  a  slightly  bitter  taste,  and  is  spar 
ingly  soluble  in  water,  but  perfectly  stable  in  the  dry  form.  Adrenalin 
possesses  a  slightly  alkaline  reaction,  and  combines  with  various  acids 
to  form  corresponding  salts.  The  solution  of  adrenalin  gives  a  beautiful 
green  coloration  with  ferric  chloride,  and  a  red  coloration  with  iodine. 
It  is  a  powerful  reducing  agent,  and  may  be  employed  in  that  capacity 
in  various  arts  and  manufactures,  such  as  a  developer  of  photographic 
plates.  It  causes  no  precipitation  with  an  ordinary  alkaloidal  reagent, 
showing  that  it  is  not  an  alkaloid  in  the  common  sense  of  the  term. 
Its  ultimate  analysis  gives  the  empirical  formula  as  CioHi5NO3.  While 
a  good  many  able  chemists  spent  years  and  years  in  an  investigation  to 
find  out  the  process  of  isolating  the  active  principle,  yet  when  you  once 
discover  how  to  do  it,  like  a  good  many  other  instances,  the  process  of 
making  it  is  very,  very  simple. 

"  The  suprarenal  gland  of  sheep  or  oxen  is  disintegrated  and  extracted 
with  water.  Such  extract  is  treated  with  alcohol  to  throw  down  the 
non-active  constituents,  both  organic  and  inorganic,  and  the  filtrate  is 
then  evaporated  in  a  vacuum  to  proper  consistency  and  treated  with 
alkaline  substances,  which  process  throws  down  the  active  principle  in 
a  crystalline  form,  which  is  afterwards  purified  by  repeating  a  similar 
method. 

"  The  physiological  activity  of  adrenalin  is  something  astounding. 
A  fraction  of  one  drop  of  solution  of  adrenalin,  or  its  salt,  in  the  strengths 
of  1-50,000,  blanches  the  normal  conjunctiva  within  one  minute.  It  is 


PROMINENT    JAPANESE    IN    AMERICA.  73 

the  strongest  haemostatic  agent  known.  The  intravenous  injection 
produces  powerful  action  upon  the  muscular  system  in  general,  but  espe 
cially  upon  the  muscular  walls  of  the  blood  vessels  and  heart,  resulting 
in  an  enormous  rise  of  blood  pressure.  The  results  of  various  other 
experiments  demonstrate  a  similar  conclusion.  Generally  speaking, 
adrenalin  when  locally  applied  is  the  most  powerful  astringent  and  haem 
ostatic  known ;  also  a  very  strong  stimulant  of  the  heart.  It  is  non- 
irritating,  non-poisonous,  and  non-cumulative  as  far  as  it  has  been 
observed.  It  is  indicated  in  a  condition  produced  by  morphine  and 
opium  poisoning.  It  has  produced  good  results  in  circulatory  failure, 
in  the  prevention  of  collapse  of  anaesthesia  and  allied  conditions.  It  is 
invaluable  in  carrying  out  bloodless  operations  in  nose,  ear,  eye,  and 
throat  work." 

This  achievement  in  modern  medical  science  by  Dr.  Takamine  is 
only  paralleled  by  the  discovery  of  a  remedy  for  diphtheria  by  Dr. 
Kitazato. 

Dr.  Takamine,  for  the  purpose  of  conducting  further  investigations, 
has  established  a  chemical  laboratory  in  New  York  City,  where  he  is 
conducting  experiments  with  his  two  assistants.  It  may  be  said  that 
he  has  always  succeeded  in  every  attempt  in  scientific  research.  The 
Artificial  Fertilizer  Company  in  Tokyo  is  now  in  a  very  prosperous  con 
dition,  having  raised  its  capital  to  more  than  1,000,000  yen.  The  agri 
cultural  interests  of  Japan  have  thus  been  greatly  promoted  by  him.  The 
Ferment  Company  which  he  once  had  in  this  country  is  now  being 
established  in  his  own  country.  The  Japanese  Government  has  already 
gotten  the  approval  of  the  Diet  for  the  purpose. 

Dr.  Takamine  is  married  to  Caroline,  a  daughter  of  Col.  E.  V.  Hitch, 
who  was  a  Southern  officer  in  the  Civil  War,  and  has  two  sons,  the  elder, 
Jokich,  and  the  younger,  Eben  ;  the  elder  sister  of  his  wife  is  married 
to  Mr.  Atkinson,  the  Commissioner  of  the  St.  Louis  World's  Fair ;  her 
younger  sister  to  the  son  of  the  late  Henry  George,  the  famous  expounder 
of  the  single  tax  theory  and  a  candidate  for  Mayor  of  New  York,  and  her 
younger  sister  is  living  at  present  with  Dr.  Takamine. 


MR.    GOJURO    NAGASAKI, 
Agent  for  the  Yokohama  Specie  Bank  at  New  York. 


PROMINENT   JAPANESE    IN    AMERICA.  75 

MR.   GOJURO    NAGASAKI. 

The  Yokohama  Specie  Bank  is  the  only  organ  of  the  Japanese 
foreign  traders  at  present  in  existence,  for  though  there  are  several 
hundred  financial  institutions  in  Japan,  no  other  banks  have  ever  had 
a  branch  office  in  a  foreign  country.  There  has  recently  been  a 
movement  to  establish  a  Chino-Japanese  bank,  but  it  is  still  far  from 
being  accomplished,  so  that  the  Specie  Bank  will  yet  have  the  almost 
sole  control  of  Japanese  money  abroad. 

The  man  who  is  chosen  for  the  important  function  of  conducting 
this  firm's  affairs  in  New  York  City  is  Gojuro  Nagasaki.  He  is  a 
native  of  Kagoshima,  the  province  where  the  majority  of  the  distin 
guished  soldiers  of  Japan  have  been  born.  He  comes  of  a  wealthy 
family,  and  enjoyed  full  opportunity  for  higher  education.  Soon  after 
the  graduation  of  the  Tokyo  Imperial  University,  in  1886,  he  was 
appointed  by  Count  Matsukata,  Minister  of  the  Treasury  Department 
at  that  time,  as  an  official  in  that  department.  He  was  afterward  trans 
ferred  to  the  office  of  Public  Loan,  and  promoted  to  the  head  of  that 
office.  It  was  here  that  his  remarkable  ability  was  shown  in  the 
management  of  finance. 

The  betterment  of  the  public  loan  condition  was  a  great  work. 
The  object  was  to  reduce  'interest  on  loan  certificates  issued  by  the 
Government  at  the  beginning  of  the  Meiji  era — thirty-five  years  ago. 
The  certificates  were  in  two  forms — those  bearing  six  per  cent,  and 
those  bearing  seven  per  cent,  interest — and  the  aim  of  the  officials  was 
to  reduce  both  to  five  per  cent.  It  was  decided  during  Matsukata's 
financial  administration  that  this  adjustment  should  be  at  once  effected. 
In  1887  a  new  loan  certificate  regulation  was  issued,  and,  as  its  results, 
the  desired  reduction  of  interest  was  obtained  on  the  certificates,  amount 
ing  to  175,000,000  yen,  their  face  value.  Great  care  and  patience  were 
required,  however,  to  prevent  a  financial  panic  that  might  be  created 
by  an  issuance  of  too  large  an  amount  of  the  certificates  at  once.  It 
was  here  that  Mr.  Nagasaki's  experience  and  skill  were  useful,  and  he 
was  kept  in  this  work  until  1889. 

At  this  time  there  came  an  application  from  Mr.  K.  Ogawa,  the 
president  of  the  Nippon  Bank,  to  the  Treasury  Department,  for  a  man 
to  fill  the  position  in  the  draft  department.  Mr.  Nagasaki  was  selected. 


76  PROMINENT    JAPANESE    IN    AMERICA. 

He  was  afterward  ordered  to  study  abroad,  and  to  acquaint  himself 
particularly  with  the  method  of  managing  drafts  practiced  in  Europe 
and  America,  and  he  spent  two  years,  from  1890  to  1892,  abroad.  As 
the  result  of  his  study  his  service  was  called  for  in  more  important 
function,  and  he  was  given  a  position  in  the  management  of  the  Yoko 
hama  Specie  Bank. 

This  bank  has  intimate  and  close  connections  with  the  Nippon 
Bank.  It  was  at  that  time  not  so  extensively  branched  as  no\v,  and 
before  putting  the  project  into  action  it  was  deemed  advisable  to  have 
a  thorough  examination  of  conditions  in  p  laces  selected  for  new 
branches.  Mr.  Nagasaki  received  the  order  to  proceed  to  various 
points  in  India  to  ascertain  such  conditions,  and  he  started  on  his 
mission  in  1892. 

The  cotton  weaving  industry  began  to  flourish  about  this  time  in 
Japan,  and  the  raw  material  used  came  chiefly  from  India.  But  the 
Japanese  importers  of  Indian  cotton  were  suffering  much  because  of 
the  lack  of  a  financial  medium  directly  connecting  them  with  the 
Hindoo  merchants.  They  were  obliged  to  rely  on  a  Hongkong  bank 
for  issuance  of  drafts,  payable,  through  Frenchmen  there,  to  the  Indian 
dealers.  It  was  for  the  obvious  purpose  of  relieving  this  inconvenience 
that  the  Yokohama  Specie  Bank  undertook  to  establish  a  branch  in 
India. 

Mr.  Nagasaki  was  afterward  sent  to  this  city.  The  New  York 
branch  of  the  Yokohama  Specie  Bank  is  located  in  Wall  street,  the 
business  center  of  the  metropolis  and  of  the  United  States.  At  the 
beginning  of  Mr.  Nagasaki's  management  this  important  branch  of  the 
Japanese  firm  had  some  difficulty  in  disposing  of  drafts  that  came  in 
excess  from  Japan,  because  the  trade  between  this  country  and  Japan 
was  not  balanced  and  reciprocal.  More  goods  were  being  imported  to 
the  United  States  from  Japan  than  the  latter  was  receiving  from  the 
former.  This  condition  of  trade  was  probably  due  to  the  fact  that 
the  most  of  the  things  that  Japan  needed,  such  as  machinery,  etc.,  had 
formerly  came  from  Europe,  especially  from  England.  Thus,  drafts 
sent  from  Japan  could  not  be  directly  returned.  The  New  York  branch 
of  the  Specie  Bank  had,  therefore,  to  send  in  cash,  through  a  London 
bank,  to  Japan. 

It  was  largely  through  the  efforts  of  Mr.  Nagasaki  that  American 
cotton  was  made  a  direct  export  to  Japan.  His  experience  in  India 


PROMINENT    JAPANESE    IN    AMERICA.  77 

enabled  him  to  show  the  value  of  American  cotton  to  Japanese  mer 
chants.  He  discovered,  however,  that  some  American  cotton  had 
already  been  introduced  into  Japan  through  Liverpool.  Mr.  Nagasaki 
saw  at  once  a  disadvantage  to  both  the  Americans  and  the  Japanese 
merchants  by  such  trading,  and  finally  effected  direct  exportation,  and 
in  1895  the  first  American  cotton  was  handed  from  American  imme 
diately  to  the  Japanese.  Thus  he  was  slowly  adjusting  the  difficulty  of 
disposing  of  the  excess  drafts,  and,  at  the  same  time,  fostering  the 
commercial  intercourse  between  the  United  States  and  Japan. 

Mr.  Nagasaki  is  a  man  of  the  most  amiable  character,  of  admirable 
business  methods.  In  short,  he  possesses  every  quality  that  is  required 
for  a  financier. 


THE  FROSTS  MAGIC 


Kokoro-ate  ni 

Orabaya  oran 
Hatsu-shimo  no 

Oki  madowaseru 

Shiragiku  no  hana. 

(Oshikochi  No  Mitsune.j 

If  it  were  my  wish 

White  chrysanthemum  to  cull ; 

Puzzled  by  the  frost 

Of  the  early  autumn  time, 

I  perchance  might  pluck  the  flower. 


MR.    KENZO    IWAHARA, 
New  York  Representative  of  Mitsui  &  Co. 


PROMINENT    JAPANESE    IN    AMERICA.  79 


MR.  KENZO   IWAHARA. 

Mr.  K.  Iwahara,  the  New  York  representative  of  Mitsui  &  Co., 
Tokyo,  was  born  on  October  21,  1863,  and  received  his  education  at 
Osaka-Eigo-gakko,  which  was  under  the  direct  control  of  the  Depart 
ment  of  Education,  and  the  College  of  Mercantile  Marine,  in  Tokyo. 
He  entered  the  service  of  Mitsui  &  Co.,  in  Tokyo,  in  1883.  From  1883 
till  1895  he  served  at  their  offices  in  Tokyo,  London,  Osaka  and  Kobe. 

While  he  was  at  Kobe  he  was  director  of  the  "Wada  Warehouse 
Company,  Limited,  and  also  the  honorary  member  of  the  Chamber  of 
Commerce  (Tokubetsu-Kaiin). 

In  1896  he  was  sent  to  this  country  to  study  the  prospect  of  trade 
in  relation  to  Japan,  in  view  of  establishing  a  branch  office  here.  Under 
his  initiative  the  present  office,  at  445  Broome  street,  was  opened,  on 
August  i,  1896. 

He  was  the  organizer  of  the  new  department  of  raw  silk  at  Yoko 
hama  and  New  York  offices. 

In  1901  he  successfully  carried  through  a  most  delicate  and  com 
plicated  negotiation  of  a  loan  from  one  of  the  great  manufacturing 
concerns  here  for  a  company  in  Tokyo. 

He  enjoys  the  most  intimate  relations  with  a  number  of  "  Trusts  " 
in  this  country  in  the  line  of  all  kinds  of  manufactured  steel,  being  their 
sole  agent  in  Japan.  The  company  is  also  the  largest  shipper  of  cotton 
to  Japan. 


Though  I  would  conceal, 

In  my  face  it  yet  appears, — 

My  fond,  secret  love  ; 

•   So  much  that  he  asks  of  me 
"Does  not  something  trouble   \ou?" 


COUNT    HIROKICHI    MUTSU, 
First  Secretary  of  the  Japanese  Legation,  Washington. 


PROMINENT    JAPANESE    IN    AMERICA.  81 


COUNT   HIROKICHI    MUTSU. 


Count  Hirokichi  Mutsu  is  the  First  Secretary  of  the  Japanese 
Legation,  Washington.  Count  Mutsu's  study  abroad  began  in  1886.  He 
sojourned  in  England  for  seven  years,  that  is  to  say,  until  he  received 
the  degree  of  Barrister  from  Temple  College,  London,  in  1893.  He 
returned  home,  and,  in  August  of  the  following  year,  was  appointed  a 
translator  in  the  Department  of  Foreign  Affairs,  Tokyo.  Soon,  however, 
his  service  was  called  for  by  the  more  important  diplomatic  relations 
created  by  the  Japan-China  War.  Count  Mutsu  was  ordered  by  the 
same  department  to  accompany  Marquis  Ito  on  his  peace-making  mission 
to  Shimonoseki.  After  the  conclusion  of  the  treaty  which  restored  peace 
in  the  Far  East  the  Count  remained  for  some  time  with  Marquis  Ito, 
whom  he  served  in  a  capacity  similar  to  that  of  secretary. 

In  October,  1895,  Count  Mutsu  passed  the  examinations  prescribed 
for  a  consul  by  the  Foreign  Department  of  the  Japanese  Government, 
and  was  soon  dispatched  to  China  and  attached  to  Baron  Hayashi's 
diplomatic  mission  at  the  Peking  court.  He  was  there  raised  to  the 
rank  of  third  secretary. 

Count  Mutsu  served  at  Washington  during  Minister  Hoshi's  time. 
He  returned  home  in  1897.  In  the  subsequent  year  his  appointment  for 
the  American  mission  was  renewed.  He  was  sent  as  consul  to  San 
Francisco,  Cal.,  and  continued  in  that  capacity  for  about  three  years. 

In  1900  the  Count  returned  to  Japan,  and  in  the  spring  of  last  year 
he  was  dispatched  to  the  Japanese  Legation  at  Rome,  Italy.  He  served 
there  as  second  secretary. 

In  the  summer  of  the  same  year  he  was  again  attached  to  the  legation 
at  Washington  and  raised  to  the  rank  of  first  secretary. 


MR.    TAKENOSUKE    FURUYA, 

New   York  Representative  of  the  Japan   Central  Tea 
Traders'  Association. 


PROMINENT    JAPANESE    IN    AMERICA.  83 


MR.  TAKENOSUKE  FURUYA. 

Mr.  Takenosuke  Furuya,  New  York  representative  of  the  Japan 
Central  Tea  Association,  was  born  in  May,  1867,  in  the  province  of 
Ibaraki,  and  was  educated  in  Tokyo.  In  1888  he  came  to  the  United 
States  and  he  studied  in  Adrian  College  and  Ann  Arbor  High  School. 
He  graduated  from  the  Law  School  of  Michigan  University  in  1892. 
He  took  his  course  of  study  by  self  support. 

He  lived  in  Chicago  from  1892  to  1894.  He  was  first  commissioner 
of  the  Japan  Central  Tea  Traders'  Association,  which  was  established 
in  1884  under  the  supervision  of  the  Department  of  Agriculture  and 
Commerce  of  the  Imperial  Japanese  Government,  at  the  World's  Fair  in 
Chicago,  in  April,  1894.  He  was  sent  by  the  Association  as  its  repre 
sentative  and  ever  since  has  continued  to  be  so.  His  office  is  at  96 
Front  street,  New  York.  He  also  represents  the  Japan  Tea  Exporting 
Company  of  Kobe,  the  Japan  Tea  Firing  Company  of  Yokohama,  and 
the  Toyo  Tea  Trading  Company  of  Shizuoka. 


THE  REBEL,  LOVE. 

Akenureba 

Kururu  mono  to  wa 
Shirinagara 

Nao  urameshiki 

Asaborake  kana. 

(Fujiwara  No  Michinobu  Ason.) 


Though  I  know  full  well 

That  the  night  will  come  again, 

E'en  when  day  has  dawned; 
Yet,  in  truth,  I  hate  the  sight 
Of  the  morning's  coming  light. 


MR.    SHAW   T.    NISHIMURA, 

Montreal  Representative  of  the  Japan  Centrai 
Tea  Traders'  Association. 


PROMINENT    JAPANESE    IN    AMERICA.  85 


MR.  SHAW   T.  NISHIMURA. 

Mr.  S.  T.  Nishimura,  who  is  the  representative  of  the  Japan  Central 
Tea  Association  in  Montreal,  Canada,  is  a  native  of  Yokohama.  His 
father  is  a  well-known  tea  merchant,  and  in  the  early  days  of  the 
opening  of  Yokohama  as  a  foreign  trading  port  began  business  there. 
Mr.  Nishimura  entered  the  mission  school  in  Yokohama  at  the  age  of 
fourteen  to  learn  English.  Later  he  went  to  Tokyo  and  Shiguoka, 
and  finally  he  entered  the  Sapporo  Agricultural  School,  Hokkaido, 
which  is  conducted  on  the  American  school  system  under  many  American 
teachers. 

In  1884,  his  father  dying,  he  took  charge  of  his  father's  business. 
A  little  later  he  was  employed  by  the  Rea  Company,  an  English  com 
pany  that  exports  tea  from  Japan,  where  he  remained  for  twelve  years. 
He  visited  America  in  1896.  After  returning  to  Japan  he  entered  the 
Japan  Tea  Firing  Company,  in  Yokohama,  which  is  conducted  by  Mr. 
Kahei  Otani,  now  the  president  of  the  Chamber  of  Commerce  in 
Yokohama. 

He  was  also  in  the  branch  office  of  the  Japan  Central  Tea  Trade 
Association  in  Chicago,  and  took  charge,  in  1900,  of  the  branch  office 
of  the  Japan  Central  Tea  Traders'  Association  in  Montreal,  Canada. 


Nikumarete 

Nikumi   kaesu   na 

Nikumarero 

Nikumi  nikumare 
Hateshi  nakereba. 

Hated  though   you  be, 

Hate  for  hate  do  not  return  ; 

Hatred  given  accept. 

If  for  hatred  you  give  hate, 
Then  to  hating  comes  no  end. 


MR.    TOMOTSUNE    MITSUTANY, 

Chicago  Representative  of  the  Japan  Central 
Tea  Traders'  Association. 


PROMINENT    JAPANESE    IN    AMERICA.  87 

MR.  TOMOTSUNE  MITSUTANY. 

Mr.  Tomotsune  Mitsutany,  the  representative  of  the  Japan  Central 
Tea  Traders'  Association  in  Chicago,  was  born  in  September,  1872,  in 
the  province  of  Chiba.  Until  1892  he  continued  his  study  in  the  Higher 
Middle  School  in  Tokyo,  and  later  he  studied  English  in  Kokumin  Egak- 
kai  in  Tokyo.  He  was  sent  to  the  World's  Fair  in  Chicago  as  commis 
sioner  of  Japanese  tea  merchants.  In  1894  he  entered  the  political 
school  of  the  Imperial  University,  where  he  studied  for  four  years.  In 
June,  1897,  he  was  appointed  as  the  representative  of  the  Japan  Central 
Tea  Traders'  Association  in  Chicago,  where  he  is  still.  In  May,  1901,  he 
opened  Gottliebe,  Mitsutany  &  Co.,  at  34  Wabash  avenue,  in  Chicago, 
in  partnership  with  Mr.  Gottliebe,  for  importing  Japanese  tea.  The 
business  is  growing  in  all  its  branches. 


THE  FLEETING  LIFE  OF  FLOWERS. 


Hisakata  no 

Hikari  Nodokeki 
Haru  no  hi  ni 

Shizu-kokoro  naku 

Hana  no  chiruran. 

(Ki  no  Tomonori.) 

In  the  cheerful  light 

Of  the  ever-shining  sun, 

In  the  days  of  spring: 

Why,  with  ceaseless,  restless  haste 
Falls  the  cherry's  new-blown  bloom  ? 


MR.    DAIJIRO    USHIKUBO, 
New  York  Manager  of  Yamanaka  &  Co. 

I 


PROMINENT    JAPANESE    IN    AMERICA.  89 


MR.  DAIJIRO  USHIKUBO. 

Among  the  exports  of  Japan  the  artistic  goods  and  potteries  have 
attained  a  unique  position  in  foreign  markets,  and  it  is  by  this  fact  that 
our  shrewd  merchants  are  liable  to  be  led  on,  and  design  to  obtain  profit 
by  an  unworthy  means.  The  inevitable  consequences  of  such  attempts 
are  the  loss  abioad  of  our  commercial  reputation,  in  particular,  and  a 
blemish  upon  our  national  character,  in  general.  It  was  to  provide 
against  this  evil  that  the  Yamanaka  &  Company  (limited  partnership), 
was  formed  at  Osaka.  A  branch  office  of  this  firm  is  in  New  York  City, 
and  its  manager  is  the  man  of  whom  we  write. 

Daijiro  Ushikubo  belongs  to  a  Samurai  family,  of  the  Tango 
Province.  His  father,  a  retainer  of  the  Tanabe  clan,  had  from  early 
times  been  a  great  admirer  of  Western  civilization,  and  directed  his  son's 
training  with  remarkable  foresight.  Younk  Daijiro  was  sent  to  Yedo 
(now  Tokyo),  Nagasaki  and  elsewhere  in  order  to  be  in  touch  with  men 
of  the  most  advanced  ideas,  and  so  he  determined  to  go  abroad. 

In  1888  he  had  an  opportunity  to  carry  out  his  cherished  wish.  The 
World's  Fair  held  in  Spain  called  for  Japanese  representatives  of  com 
merce  and  industry  to  that  country.  Mr.  Ogoshi,  now  the  Japanese 
Minister  to  Argentine  Republic,  South  America,  was  chosen  by  our 
Government  for  the  mission,  and  Ushikubo  accompanied  him.  During 
their  stay  in  Spain  Ushikubo  had  earnestly  endeavored  to  introduce 
Japanese  artistic  goods.  After  spending  about  a  year  there,  he  went 
through  England,  Germany,  and  France,  always  on  the  lookout  for  the 
possibilities  of  introducing  into  these  countries  of  Japanese  goods.  He 
returned  to  Japan  in  1890. 

In  the  same  year  he  was  appointed  by  the  Industrial  and  Com 
mercial  Association  of  Japan  to  a  position  in  its  New  York  branch.  The 
head  of  this  branch  was  at  that  time  Mr.  H.  Shigyo.  For  three  years 
Ushikubo,  with  his  extraordinary  devotion  to  business,  assisted  in  this 
important  branch  of  the  association.  But  his  effort  and  faithful  service 
came  to  nothing,  for,  in  1893,  the  great  financial  panic  in  America 
brought  upon  the  firm's  business  so  damaging  an  effect  that  it  had  to  be 
closed  permanently. 

In  1894  the  Yamanaka  &  Company  arranged  to  have  a  branch  at 
this  city,  and  Ushikubo  was  chosen  as  the  man  to  render  this  movement 


MR.  BUNKIO  MATSUKI. 
Head  of  Matsuki  &  Co. 


PROMINENT   JAPANESE    IN    AMERICA.  91 

successful.  His  business  ability  again  showed  itself.  He  principally 
directed  his  effort  to  the  field  which  he  had  already  studied  while  in 
Europe ;  he  encouraged  the  introduction  of  artistic  goods  into  this  coun 
try,  and  at  the  same  time  made  a  careful  study  of  the  American  taste  for 
Japanese  art.  It  was  chiefly  this  study  of  his  that  insured  the  success  of 
the  company  in  this  country. 

It  is  not  too  much  to  say  that  Ushikubo  possesses  what  Mr.  Andrew 
Carnegie  terms  the  "  secret  of  business  success " :  honesty,  faith  and 
impartiality.  He  also  possesses,  to  a  remarkable  degree,  the  power  of 
choosing  artistic  pottery,  and  the  faculty  of  discriminating  the  workman 
ship  of  the  various  Japanese  potteries,  which  is  only  developed  by  deep 
study  and  extensive  acquaintance  with  the  art  of  both  ancient  and  modern 
times. 


MR.  BUNKIO  MATSUKI. 

Mr.  Bunkio  Matsuki  was  born  in  Sewa,  in  the  Province  of  Shinao, 
Japan,  in  April,  1867.  When  a  child  he  was  named  Takasaburo  Mat 
suki.  He  is  the  third  of  a  family  of  five  brothers  and  five  sisters. 

When  he  was  fourteen  years  old  he  was  attracted  to  the  Buddhist 
priest,  Illi,  who  was  at  the  head  of  the  Nichiren  sect.  In  his  fifteenth 
year  he  became  his  attendant,  and  two  years  later  he  became  his  disciple, 
when  he  was  given  his  present  name,  Bunkio. 

Like  many  other  Japanese,  he  had  a  desire  to  see  the  outside  world. 
He  went  to  China  in  1886  and  remained  there  one  year  and  a  half,  after 
which  he  returned  to  Japan.  He  then  left  his  native  land  for  the  United 
States,  arriving  in  San  Francisco  in  1888,  where  he  remained  only  seven 
days,  when  he  went  East  to  Boston  with  $67  in  his  pocket.  He  got 
acquainted  with  Prof.  Edward  S.  Morse,  and  through  his  kindness  got 
into  the  Salem  High  School,  from  which  he  graduated  in  1890.  He 
revisited  Japan  for  the  first  time  in  1891,  representing  the  Syndicate 
Trading  Company.  Mr.  A.  Swan  Brown  was  then  president.  He 
opened  the  first  Japanese  store  in  Boston  in  October,  1883.  In  the  same 
year  he  built  the  first  Japanese  house  in  Salem,  Mass. 

Beginning  in  1891,  he  visited  Japan  every  year,  as  he  found  it 
necessary  to  select  ancient  and  modern  art  goods  in  person.  He 
originated  many  ideas  of  commercial  value  which  he  has  offered  in  his 
store  at  380  Boylston  street,  Boston,  Mass.,  and  in  his  art  sells  in  various 
cities.  Mr.  Matsuki's  aim  in  commerce  has  always  been  to  handle  only 
the  real  and  highest  quality  of  Japanese  art  objects,  importing  only 
genuine  articles,  instead  of  buying  imitations  in  what  is  known  as  the 
"  Yokohama  style." 

Mr.  Matsuki  is  a  liberal  contributor  of  illustrated  articles  on  Japanese 
art  in  different  papers  and  magazines  of  this  country. 


MR.    MUMAJIRO    YAMADA, 

New  York  Representative  of  Okura  &  Co. 


PROMINENT    JAPANESE    IN    AMERICA.  93 


MR.   MUMAJIRO    YAMADA. 

Mr.  Yamada  was  born  in  1871,  in  the  province  of  Kyushu.  .He 
graduated  from  the  Higher  Commercial  School  in  1894.  In  the  same 
vear  he  entered  Okura  &  Co.,  and  was  in  the  branch  office  of  the 
Company  in  Yokohama  for  three  years,  after  which  he  moved  to  the 
Tokyo  office.  In  1900  he  went  to  London,  after  visiting  the  Continental 
countries  of  Europe. 

Okura  &  Co.  are  the  largest  contractors  for  the  Government,  and 
have  many  branch  offices  throughout  Japan,  China,  England  and 
Australia.  In  April,  1901,  Mr.  Yamada  came  to  New  York  for  the 
purpose  of  opening  an  office,  and  in  August  he  established  his  head 
quarters  at  ii  Broadway.  His  business  is  mainly  exporting  machinery 
and  all  iron  work  to  Japan  and  the  Far  East. 

The  main  office  of  Okura  &  Co.  is  in  Tokyo,  and  its  managing 
partner  is  Mr.  Kihachiro  Okura,  who  is  one  of  the  millionaires  of  Japan. 
Mr.  Okura  has  donated  half  a  million  yen  to  the  public  for  establishing 
the  Okura  Commercial  School  in  Tokvo. 


THE  MOUNTAIN  CHERRY-BLOOM 

Takasago  no 

Onoe  no  sakura 
Saki  ni  keri 

Toyama  no  kasumi 

Tatazu  mo  aranan. 
(Gon-Chunagon  Masafusa). 

On  that  distant  mount, 

O'er  the  slope  below  the  peak, 

Cherries  are  in  flower  ; 

May  the  mists  of  hither  hills 
Not  arise  to  veil  the  scene. 


MR.    JIRO    SAKABE, 
Of  Kyoto  Manufacturing  and  Trading  Company. 


PROMINENT    JAPANESE    IN    AMERICA.  95 


MR.  JIRO  SAKABE. 

Jiru  Sakabe,  of  the  Kyoto  Manufacturing  and  Trading  Company, 
of  this  city,  was  born  in  December,  18/3,  at  Kameoka,  Tamba  Province, 
Japan.  He  comes  of  a  Samurai  family.  His  father,  a  judicial  officer 
of  the  province  under  the  feudal  government,  died  early,  leaving  his 
immature  son,  Jiru,  to  the  mother's  care. 

Noble  in  birth  but  poor  in  means,  Jiru  Sakabe  had  from  his  early 
boyhood  to  struggle  for  an  education.  He  found  at  length  a  helping 
hand  in  a  charitable  man,  who  furnished  him  the  means  necessary  for 
the  purpose.  This  man  was  Gentaro  Tanaka,  who  possessed  a  consid 
erable  fortune,  which  he  readily  appropriated  for  the  welfare  of  this 
Samurai  youth. 

At  the  age  of  seventeen  Sakabe  graduated  from  the  Kyoto  Com 
mercial  College,  and  at  once  decided  to  step  out  into  the  actual  world, 
and  to  face  this  time  a  struggle  of  manhood.  It  is  a  strange  destiny 
that  a  Samurai,  who  inherits  the  soul  to  rule  or  the  hand  to  wield  a 
sword,  should  have  adopted  the  occupation  of  loss  and  profit  accounts. 
Nevertheless,  such  is  the  case  often  happening  in  the  era  of  the  Meiji, 
which  opened  Japan  to  the  world's  commerce,  although  this  never 
happened  in  the  days  of  old  Japan. 

The  ambitious  youth  was  seen  among  the  prominent  business  men 
of  Kyoto  in  an  effort  to  organize  a  trade  association.  At  the  formation 
of  the  Kan-zei  Trading  Association  he  entered  his  name  among  its 
members.  This  trade  organization  grew  rapidly,  and,  in  four  years  after 
its  founding,  it  began  to  take  interest  in  international  trade.  More 
extensive  trade  with  America  was  desired  by  the  association,  and  a 
branch  firm  was  establshed  in  New  York,  and  called  Wooyeno  &  Co. 
Mr.  Eijiro  Wooyeno  had  charge  of  this  branch. 

Sakabe  was  sent  to  this  country  and  attached  to  the  New  "York 
branch.  This  was  in  December,  1895.  His  merits  were  quickly 
recognized.  K.  Hamaoka,  the  president  of  the  association,  and  G. 
Tanaka' conferred  with  Sakabe  as  to  an  important  movement  to  advance 
the  interests  of  the  association,  and,  as  the  successful  result  of  this 
movement,  Sakabe  was  given  the  sole  power  to  deal  in  the  American 
market. 

In  a  short  time  Eijiro  Wooyeno,  who  had  the  closest  relation  with 
the  association,  retired,  and  with  him  went  the  name  of  "  Wooyeno  & 
Co."  Sakabe,  after  conferring  with  Tanaka,  an  influential  member  of 
the  association,  obtained  permission  to  continue  the  branch  on  a  more 
extensive  plan.  The  Kyoto  Manufacturing  and  Trading  Company, 
which  is  located  at  532-534  Broadway,  New  York,  was  the  result.  It 
began  business  in  April  of  this  year. 


?.,:?£ 


^^ 

.   •  co 

I-H   O  ,^T 


Jf^wg 

.2  of  .   . 

S~N§ 


PROMINENT   JAPANESE   IN    AMERICA.  97 


HINODE  CLUB,  A  SOCIAL  ORGAN  OF  THE  JAPA 
NESE   IN  NEW  YORK  CITY. 

An  association  of  the  Japanese  bicycle  riders  in  New  York  was 
formed  in  1897,  and  called  the  Hinode  Cycle  Club.  As  indicated  by 
the  name,  the  aim  of  the  club  was  primarily  the  mutual  benefit  and 
pleasure  of  Japanese  cyclers. 

As  cycling,  however,  gradually  became  less  in  favor,  and  at  the 
same  time,  the  number  of  the  Japanese  residents  having  varied  inclina 
tions  to  sports  increased,  it  was  felt  that  the  purpose  of  the  club  should 
be  broadened  so  as  to  include  a  wider  field  of  amusement  and  members 
from  various  classes.  On  January  i,  1901,  at  a  New  Year  celebration 
gathering,  a  suggestion  to  alter  the  name  of  the  club  so  that  it  would 
designate  the  wider  purpose  was  proposed  by  Dr.  J.  Takamine,  and  in 
May  of  the  same  year  it  was  decided  to  drop  the  word  "  cycle  "  from  the 
name  of  the  club. 

The  club  was  then  reorganized  and  formally  adopted,  on  May  29, 
1901,  the  name  of  Hinode  Club.  Its  meeting  room  was  fixed  at  Vienna 
Hall,  and  the  opening  exercises  were  held  the  same  day.  A  number  of 
prominent  Japanese  outside  of  the  original  club  members  were  invited. 
Among  them  were  Minister  and  Mrs.  Takahira.  The  occasion  was  a 
very  successful  one,  and  ended  by  a  dinner.  Dr.  J.  Takamine  was 
elected  as  the  first  president  of  this  new  club. 

The  present  president  of  the  club  is  Mr.  Zenjiro  Horikoshi,  of  the 
Horikoshi  silk  firm.  The  members  number  fifty.  They  are  of  the 
select  class  of  Japanese  residents,  of  various  inclinations  to  sport,  and  are 
highly  accomplished  men.  Its  gathering  is  now  held  once  a  month ;  a 
general  meeting  is  also  called  annually.  During  the  summer  a  com 
fortable  place  is  selected  in  the  suburbs,  seven  or  eight  miles  from  the 
city,  for  the  pleasure  of  the  members.  The  club  fee  is  fixed  at  $12 
annually.  An  entrance  fee  of  $5  is  also  required.  Proposals  for  mem 
bership  from  any  person  can  be  considered  by  recommendations  of  two 
members,  and  an  election  requires  the  approval  of  three-fourths  of  the 
entire  membership. 


9I       DEPARTMENT 

202  Mam  Libran 


ALL  BOOKS  MAY  BE  RECALLED  AFTER  7  DAYS 


nth 


DUE  AS  STAMPED  BELOW 


RET'D      AUG 


CIRCULATION 

NQV03~198 


uCT  0  j  1989 


GENERAL  LIBRARY  -  U.C.  BERKELEY 


